UC-NRLF 


SB    3Dfl    37h 


*   * 


SOME, 

SUCCESSFUL 
AMERICANS 

SHERMAN  WILLIAMS 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIFT    OF 


Class 


Vv  •*? 


SOME    SUCCESSFUL 
AMERICANS 


BY 


SHERMAN    WILLIAMS 

FORMERLY  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  SCHOOLS  AT 
GLENS  FALLS,  N.Y. 


GINN  &  COMPANY 

BOSTON  .  NEW  YORK  .   CHICAGO  .  LONDON 


A 


COPYRIGHT,  1904 
BY   SHERMAN   WILLIAMS 


ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 
35-4 


athenaeum  fives* 

GINN  &  COMPANY -CAM 
BRIDGE.  MASSACHUSETTS 


PREFACE 

As  superintendent  of  schools  I  frequently  talked  with 
boys  who  were  in  doubt  as  to  what  they  should  do  in  life, 
and  who  felt  that  there  were  very  few  opportunities  in  the 
business  world  of  to-day  for  those  without  money  and  influ 
ence.  Of  course  there  never  was  a  time  when  the  demand 
for  capable,  industrious,  energetic,  and  honest  young  men 
so  far  outran  the  supply  as  at  present.  A  personal  talk 
with  a  boy  would  generally  convince  him  of  this  ;  but  for 
one  boy  who  would  come  and  talk  with  me  about  it  there 
were  probably  several  others  who  were  also  thinking,  but 
who  would  not  come  to  me,  and  many  more  who  were  not 
even  thinking.  This  led  me  to  do  something  in  school  in 
the  way  of  a  study  of  the  lives  of  men  and  women  who  had 
made  a  success  in  life  in  the  face  of  what  are  called  adverse 
circumstances. 

When  I  began  institute  work  I  urged  upon  teachers  the 
importance  of  taking  up  this  matter,  and  was  met  with 
the  statement  that  unless  one  had  access  to  a  fair  library 
the  work  could  not  be  done,  as  there  was  no  one  book  that 
could  be  used  to  advantage;  that  while  there  were  many 
excellent  biographies  and  works  of  collective  biography, 
there  was  none  which  dealt  with  both  men  and  women, 
with  those  working  in  very  different  fields  of  labor,  and 
which  dealt  only  with  those  who  had  had  to  make  their 
own  way  in  life.  It  was  desirable  and  almost  necessary  to 

iii 

227439 


IV  PREFACE 

have  a  book  which  met  these  conditions.  It  was  also  desir 
able  that  it  should  deal  only  with  Americans  and  with  those 
who  were  no  longer  living,  as  the  complete  life  should  be 
studied. 

I  saw  the  force  of  these  statements  and  have  endeavored 
to  make  such  a  book  as  these  teachers  feel  they  need.  It 
goes  without  saying  that  these  sketches  are  so  brief  that 
very  much  must  be  omitted  in  each  life.  Teachers  should 
encourage  their  pupils  to  read  more  complete  biographies, 
not  merely  of  these  men  and  women,  but  of  many  others  as 
well.  A  well-written  biography  is  as  interesting  as  a  novel, 
and  far  more  profitable  reading. 

SHERMAN   WILLIAMS. 
May  2,  1904. 


CONTENTS 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN    .     .     . 
PETER  COOPER  .... 
MARY  LYON  .     .     . 
HORACE  GREELEY  . 
CYRUS  HALL  MCCORMICK 
FRANCES  WILLARD     .     . 
LOUISA  M.  ALCOTT     .     . 
ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS 
LELAND  STANFORD  "  .     . 

CHARLES  PRATT  .  .  . 
CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT 
ELI  WHITNEY  .... 
HENRY  CLAY  .... 
BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  . 


PAGB 

Lawyer,  Politician,  and  Statesman  7 

Business  Man  and  Philanthropist  33 

Teacher 45 

Editor 55 

Inventor 79 

Reformer ^9 

Author 99 

Lawyer  and  Statesman       .     .     .     .  1 1 1 

Business   Man,    Politician,    and 

Philanthropist 121 

Business  Man  and  Philanthropist  131 

Steamboat  and  Railway  Magnate    .  139 

Inventor J47 

Lawyer,  Politician,  and  Statesman  155 

Printer,  Inventor,  Scientist,  Author, 

Politician,  and  Diplomat     .     .     .  173 


SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 


TO   THE   READER 

THIS  little  volume  tells  the  story  of  a  few  men  and  women 
who  began  life  under  what  are  generally  considered  adverse 
circumstances  and  who  yet  were  remarkably  successful. 
The  sketches  cover  a  wide  range  of  callings,  extend  over  a 
considerable  period  of  time,  and  represent  different  portions 
of  our  country. 

These  few  men  and  women,  however,  typify  a  very  large 
class.  More  than  three  fourths  of  the  leaders  in  industries, 
professions,  and  other  callings  began  life  without  money 
or  influence.  You  can  scarcely  find  a  single  manager  of 
a  great  manufactory  who  did  not  come  up  from  the  ranks. 
Permit  me  to  call  your  attention  to  a  few  who  have  made 
their  way  up  from  humble  beginnings. 

Philip  Armour  lived  on  a  farm  till  he  was  twenty. 

Oakes  Ames,  the  great  shovel  manufacturer,  was  the  son  of  a 
blacksmith. 

Henry  Burden,  the  inventor  and  famous  maker  of  horseshoes,  was 
a  farmer's  son. 

Isaac  Babbitt,  inventor  of  the  metal  that  bears  his  name,  was  a 
goldsmith. 

Ephraim  Bell,  founder  of  the  celebrated  agricultural  works  and 
inventor  of  a  reaper,  a  harvester,  and  a  mower,  began  life  as  a 
carpenter. 

Charles  Brush,  the  noted  electrician,  spent  his  early  years  upon 
a  farm. 

i 


2  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

George  Henry  Corliss,  maker  of  the  famous  Corliss  engines,  began 
life  as  a  clerk  in  a  cotton  factory. 

Alexander  Cassatt,  president  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  was 
a  rod  man  in  the  employ  of  tbe  company  of  which  he  is  now  president. 
Charles  Cheney,  the  grea,.  silk  manufacturer,  began  as  a  clerk  at 
fourteen  and  then  worked  at  farming  till  middle  life. 

Alvin  Clark,  the  first  of  the  great  opticians  of  that  name,  was  the 
son  of  a  farmer. 

Jonas  Chickering,  the  great  piano  maker,  was  the  son  of  a 
blacksmith. 

Samuel  Colt,  the  noted  manufacturer  of  firearms,  went  to  sea  as 
a  boy  before  the  mast,  and  was  afterwards  a  dyer  and  bleacher  in 
his  father's  factory. 

Horace  Claflin,  the  great  merchant,  began  life  as  a  clerk. 
Andrew  Carnegie  began  as  a  bobbin  boy  at  a  salary  of  $1.20 
per  week. 

Henry  Disston,  manufacturer  of  the  Disston  saws,  was  a  mechanic 
working  at  day  wages. 

William  E.  Dodge,  the  wholesale  dry  goods  merchant,  worked  in 
a  cotton  mill. 

Anthony  Drexel,  the  great  banker,  was  a  poor  boy  working  in  his 
father's  office. 

Thomas  A.  Edison  was  a  newsboy. 

John  Fritz,  the  nestor  of  the  iron  trade,  began  life  as  a  blacksmith. 
Jay  Gould  was  brought  up  on  a  farm,  and  became,  first,  a  book 
keeper,  then  a  surveyor. 

Daniel  Fayerweather,  who  left  many  millions  to  hospitals  and 
educational  institutions,  was  first  a  farm  hand,  then  a  shoemaker, 
then  a  tin  peddler. 

Collis  P.  Huntington,  the  great  railway  magnate,  supported  him 
self  from  the  time  he  was  fourteen. 

Peter  Henderson,  florist  and  seedsman,  was  apprenticed  to  a 
gardener  in  Scotland. 

Elias  Howe,  inventor  of  the  sewing  machine,  was  the  son  of  a 
farmer,  and  was  a  working  mechanic. 

James  Harper,  founder  of  a  great  publishing  house,  was  a  farmer's 
son,  and  was  apprenticed  to  a  printer. 


TO  THE  READER  3 

George  Pullman,  founder  of  the  great  Pullman  company,  at  seven 
teen  was  working  for  a  country  merchant. 

Asa  Packer,  founder  of  Lehigh  University,  first  worked  in  a  tan 
nery,  then  on  a  farm,  and  afterwards  became  a  carpenter  and  joiner. 

James  Lick,  of  Lick  University  famc*,'was  very  poor  when  a  young 
man,  and  worked  in  a  piano  manufactory. 

Isaac  Rich,  who  gave  one  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars  to  Boston 
University,  began  life  working  in  a  fish  stall. 

Philo  Remington,  founder  of  the  Remington  company  for  the 
manufacture  of  firearms,  began  life  as  a  factory  hand. 

John  Roach,  the  famous  shipbuilder,  came  to  this  country  penni 
less,  at  the  age  of  fourteen. 

John  Rockefeller  began  life  as  an  assistant  bookkeeper  in  a  com 
mission  house  at  a  salary  of  less  than  four  dollars  a  week. 

Charles  Schwab  began  his  career  driving  stakes  at  a  dollar  a  day. 

Samuel  Sloan,  the  great  railway  president,  was  at  first  a  clerk  in 
an  importing  house. 

Isaac  Singer,  of  sewing-machine  fame,  was  a  mechanic  working 
for  daily  wages. 

Moses  Taylor,  the  great  merchant,  began  life  as  a  clerk. 

Herbert  Vreeland,  president  of  the  Metropolitan  Street  Railway, 
began  life  on  a  delivery  wagon,  afterwards  worked  in  a  gravel  pit, 
and  then  as  a  brakeman. 

Lucy  Larcom,  the  author,  was  the  daughter  of  poor  parents,  and 
at  thirteen  years  of  age  entered  a  cotton  factory  as  a  common 
operative. 

George  W.  Childs,  of  the  Philadelphia  Public  Ledger,  was  an 
errand  boy.  At  thirteen  he  entered  the  navy,  in  which  he  remained 
about  a  year  and  a  half ;  he  then  became  a  clerk  in  a  bookstore  at 
three  dollars  a  week. 

James  A.  Garfield  was  born  in  a  log  cabin.  He  worked  on  a  farm 
early  in  life  ;  later  he  was  a  wood  chopper,  and  a  mule  driver  on  the 
canal.  He  earned  his  first  dollar  by  planing  boards. 

George  Peabody,  the  great  London  banker,  entered  a  grocery  store 
as  a  clerk  at  eleven  years  of  age. 

John  Ericsson,  of  Monitor  fame,  was  a  poor  boy,  and  early  in  life 
worked  in  the  iron  mines  of  Sweden. 


4  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

Samuel  Williston,  who  gave  more  than  one  and  a  half  millions  of 
dollars  for  noble  purposes,  began  work  on  a  farm  at  ten  years  of 
age,  and  remained  there  for  six  years  at  an  average  wage  of  seven 
dollars  a  month. 

Daniel  Webster  was  the  son  of  a  poor  struggling  farmer. 

Thurlow  Weed  as  a  boy  was  so  poor  that  he  had  to  wear  old  bits 
of  rag  carpet  tied  on  his  feet  in  place  of  shoes  and  stockings.  He 
worked  in  a  blacksmith's  shop  when  only  eight  years  of  age. 

Elihu  Burritt,  the  youngest  of  ten  children,  was  the  son  of  a  farmer. 
At  eighteen  years  of  age  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  blacksmith. 

Lucy  Stone  was  born  on  a  farm.  Almost  as  soon  as  she  could 
walk  and  count  she  had  to  help  in  the  work,  driving  the  cows  from 
the  pasture,  dropping  corn  for  the  planting,  and  similar  light  work. 

John  Jacob  Astor  was  the  son  of  a  butcher  and  worked  with  his 
father  till  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age.  After  he  had  worked  for  him 
self  three  years  he  had  saved  only  seventy-five  dollars. 

Henry  Wilson,  the  noted  statesman,  was  the  son  of  a  day  laborer. 
At  ten  years  of  age  he  began  work  on  a  farm,  and  at  twenty-one  was 
a  shoemaker  and  cobbler. 

This  list  might  be  extended  indefinitely  and  include 
famous  lawyers,  physicians,  preachers,  in  fact  representa 
tives  of  every  calling. 

It  is  worth  while  to  note  that  these  successful  men  have 
been  willing  to  begin  their  work  by  doing  whatever  they 
could  get  to  do,  that  they  have  been  industrious,  prudent, 
economical,  persistent,  and  temperate. 

In  closing  I  should  like  to  call  your  attention  to  the 
following  from  Andrew  Carnegie. 

It  is  not  from  the  sons  of  the  millionaire  or  the  noble  that  the 
world  receives  its  teachers,  its  martyrs,  its  inventors,  its  statesmen,  its 
poets,  or  even  its  men  of  affairs.  It  is  from  the  cottage  of  the  poor 
that  all  these  spring.  We  can  scarcely  read  one  among  the  few 
"  immortal  names  that  were  not  born  to  die,"  or  who  has  rendered 


TO  THE   READER  5 

exceptional  service  to  our  race,  who  had  not  the  advantage  of  being 
cradled,  nursed,  and  reared  in  the  stimulating  school  of  poverty. 
There  is  nothing  so  enervating,  nothing  so  deadly  in  its  effects  upon 
the  qualities  which  lead  to  the  highest  achievement,  moral  or  intel 
lectual,  as  hereditary  wealth.  And  if  there  be  among  you  a  young 
man  who  feels  that  he  is  not  compelled  to  exert  himself  in  order  to 
earn  and  live  from  his  own  efforts,  I  tender  him  my  profound  sympa 
thy.  Should  such  a  one  prove  an  exception  to  his  fellows,  and 
become  a  citizen  living  a  life  creditable  to  himself  and  useful  to  the 
state,  instead  of  my  profound  sympathy  I  bow  before  him  with  pro 
found  reverence;  for  one  who  overcomes  the  seductive  temptations 
which  surround  hereditary  wealth  is  of  the  "salt  of  the  earth"  and 
entitled  to  double  honor. 


Statue  of  Abraham  Lincoln  in  Lincoln  Park,  Chicago 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

1809-1865 

PERHAPS  the  most  striking  character  in  all  American 
history  is  Abraham  Lincoln.  Few  people  have  begun  life 
under  more  unfavorable  circumstances.  No  other  person 
in  this  country  beginning  life  under  such  conditions,  ever 
accomplished  so  much.  Such  a  man  with  such  a  history 
must  always  be  a  person  of  great  interest  to  all  who  believe 
in  a  "government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for 
the  people  " ;  to  all  who  believe  that  the  world  with  its 
opportunities  for  progress  should  be  open  to  every  child, 
no  matter  how  humble  his  origin. 

Every  boy  who  believes,  as  he  should  believe,  that  he  is 
"  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune,"  and  who  is  ambitious  to 
make  the  most  of  himself,  must  be  interested  in  the  story 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.  His  early  life  with  its  hardships, 
its  struggles,  its  lack  of  opportunity,  must  encourage  one 
who  begins  life  under  much  more  favorable  circumstances. 
His  success  under  these  conditions  should  stimulate  every 
ambitious  boy  to  begin  the  struggle  of  life  hopefully  and 
to  continue  it  courageously. 

Believing  that  the  story  of  such  a  life  is  the  birthright 
of  every  American  citizen,  and  that  it  is  a  calamity  to  miss 
it,  the  writer  is  led  to  do  his  part  in  placing  that  story 
within  the  reach  of  American  children. 

7 


8  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 


LINCOLN'S  ANCESTRY 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  second  child  of  Thomas  and 
Nancy  Lincoln.  His  mother's  maiden  name  was  Hanks. 
Though  his  parents  were  very  poor  and  his  father  was 
thriftless  and  without  ambition,  they  came  of  good  ances 
try.  About  1640  three  brothers  of  the  name  of  Lincoln 
came  to  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  from  the  west  of  Eng 
land.  One  of  these,  Samuel,  was  the  ancestor  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  Many  of  Samuel's  descendants  were  prominent 
men.  One  was  a  member  of  the  Boston  Tea  Party  and 
was  a  captain  of  artillery  during  the  Revolution.  A  great- 
grandson,  named  Levi,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  was  one 
of  the  minutemen  at  Cambridge.  He  held  several  local 
offices  and  was  appointed  Attorney-General  of  the  United 
States  by  Jefferson ;  for  a  few  months  he  was  Secretary 
of  State.  In  1807  ne  was  lieutenant  governor  of  Mas 
sachusetts.  In  181  i  he  was  appointed  associate  justice  of 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court  by  Madison,  but  declined 
to  serve.  For  years  he  was  considered  the  head  of  the 
Massachusetts  bar. 

His  son,  also  named  Levi,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  became 
governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  held  other  important  offices. 
Enoch,  another  son,  was  a  member  of  Congress  for  eight 
years  and  became  governor  of  Maine. 

Another  son,  named  Mordecai,  from  whom  Abraham 
was  directly  descended,  was  the  proprietor  of  numerous 
iron  works,  sawmills,  and  gristmills.  His  son  Mordecai 
moved  to  New  Jersey  and  from  there  to  Pennsylvania. 
Many  of  his  descendants  in  the  latter  state  have  taken 
prominent  positions  in  public  life.  A  son  of  this  Mordecai 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  9 

moved  to  Virginia.  He  had  five  sons,  to  one  of  whom  he 
gave  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land  situated  in 
what  is  now  Rockingham  County,  Virginia. 

Soon  afterwards  rumors  of  a  rich  western  land  called 
Kentucky  began  to  be  circulated.  The  favorite  route  to 
this  new  country  was  through  Rockingham  County,  and  the 
newly  arrived  settler  caught  the  fever  of  unrest  and  with 
his  wife  and  family  moved  to  Jefferson  County,  Kentucky. 
In  1778  he  was  killed  by  the  Indians,  leaving  three  sons 
and  two  daughters.  The  eldest  son,  Mordecai,  inherited 
most  of  the  large  estate  and  became  well-to-do.  Very 
little  is  known  of  the  second  son,  Josiah.  The  daughters 
married  into  well-known  Kentucky  families.  The  youngest 
son,  Thomas,  the  father  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  was,  at  ten 
years  of  age,  left  to  shift  for  himself,  and  was  a  wandering, 
laboring  boy  before  he  had  learned  to  read. 

The  ancestry  of  the  mother  of  Lincoln  is  as  follows. 
Benjamin  Hanks  came  to  this  country  in  1699  and  settled 
at  Plymouth,  Massachusetts.  He  had  eleven  children, 
one  of  whom,  William,  went  to  Virginia  and  settled  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Rappahannock  River.  William  had  five 
sons,  four  of  whom,  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  moved  to  Amelia  County,  Virginia,  where  they 
owned  a  thousand  acres  of  land.  Joseph,  the  youngest  of 
these  sons,  married  Nancy  Shipley,  a  sister  of  the  mother 
of  Thomas  Lincoln.  About  1789  Joseph  Hanks  moved 
to  Kentucky  and  settled  near  what  is  now  Elizabeth- 
town.  His  youngest  daughter,  Nancy,  was  the  mother  of 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

That  such  a  man  as  Lincoln  should  spring  from  such 
ancestry  is  in  no  way  remarkable. 


10  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

LINCOLN'S  BOYHOOD 

Abraham  Lincoln's  father  was  an  illiterate  man  who 
learned  to  write  his  name  in  a  bungling  sort  of  way  after 
he  was  married.  He  seems  to  have  been  willing  to  work, 
but  was  neither  thrifty  nor  ambitious.  He  learned  the 


Abraham  Lincoln's  Birthplace 

trade  of  carpenter  and  cabinet  maker.  He  married  his 
cousin,  Nancy  Hanks,  in  1807.  Abraham,  their  second 
child,  was  born  on  the  I2th  of  February,  1809.  The  name 
Abraham  had  been  common  in  both  the  Lincoln  and  the 
Hanks  families  for  generations. 

The  Lincolns  lived  far  from  any  considerable  settlement, 
and  Abraham  was  a  well-grown  lad  when  he  first  saw  a 
church.  Both  his  father  and  his  mother  were  religious  ;  but 
religious  services  were  rare,  being  confined  to  those  held 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  II 

now  and  then  by  itinerant  preachers.  One  of  these,  a  Bap 
tist  by  the  name  of  Elkin,  aroused  Abraham's  interest  in 
public  speaking.  Years  afterwards,  when  Lincoln  was  Presi 
dent,  he  referred  to  Elkin  as  being  the  most  remarkable 
man  whom  he  knew  in  his  boyhood. 

Not  only  the  Lincolns  but  most  of  their  neighbors  were 
very  poor.  Thomas  Lincoln  gave  up  his  trade  and  took 
to  farming,  and,  when  Abraham  was  about  four  years  old, 
moved  his  family  to  Knob  Creek.  The  boy  now  began 
to  go  to  school,  but  the  schools  of  that  time  bore  little 
resemblance  to  ours.  There  was  no  regular  time  for  the 
school  to  be  in  session  ;  it  might  continue  for  a  few  months 
or  a  few  weeks  or  even  for  a  shorter  time.  The  only  thing 
required  of  the  teacher  was  ability  to  manage  the  older 
boys.  The  schoolhouse  was  usually  a  log  hut  furnished 
only  with  rough  benches,  a  teacher's  desk,  and  a  box  stove 
or  rude  fireplace.  Many  of  the  pupils  had  no  books. 

It  is  said  that  young  Lincoln  was  an  apt  pupil  and  learned 
readily.  His  mother  took  great  pains  to  teach  her  children 
what  she  knew,  and  from  her  they  learned  much  of  Bible 
lore,  fairy  tales,  and  country  legends.  Lincoln  was  wonder 
fully  familiar  with  the  facts  and  with  the  language  of  the 
Bible.  No  doubt  this  came  from  his  mother's  training,  as 
perhaps  also  did  his  love  for  story-telling. 

In  1816  the  Lincolns  moved  to  Spencer,  Indiana,  where 
for  nearly  a  year  they  lived  in  a  "  half-faced  camp,"  a  rude 
cabin  inclosed  on  three  sides,  the  fourth  being  partly 
screened  by  the  skins  of  animals.  In  one  corner  was  a 
rough  fireplace  made  of  sticks  and  clay,  also  a  chimney  of 
the  same  material.  The  furniture  of  the  house  was  of  the 
rudest  description  and  of  home  manufacture.  The  cabin 


12 


SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 


which  later  took  the  place  of  the  "half-faced  camp"  had 
no  floor,  door,  nor  window.  Abraham  slept  on  a  bed  of 
leaves  in  the  loft.  There  was  no  stairway,  but  in  its  place 
were  wooden  pegs  driven  into  the  wall. 

Lincoln  was  now  in  his  eighth  year.  His  dress  con 
sisted  of  a  shirt  of  linsey-woolsey,  a  homespun  stuff  made 
from  a  mixture  of  cotton  and  wool,  colored,  if  at  all,  with 

dyes  obtained  from  roots 
and  bark.  He  wore  cow 
hide  boots  or  moccasins, 
deerskin  leggins,  a  hunting 
shirt  of  the  same  material, 
and  a  " coon-skin"  cap.  He 
never  wore  stockings  until 
he  was  a  man.  Now  that 
he  was  strong  enough  to 
work  he  was  put  to  such 
tasks  as  bringing  tools,  car 
rying  water,  dropping  seeds, 
and  picking  berries. 

There  was  plenty  of  food, 
Half-Faced  Camp  i  ^  r  , 

such  as  it  was.     Game,  fish, 

and  wild  fruits  were  to  be  had  in  abundance.  The  potato 
was  the  only  vegetable  raised  to  any  considerable  extent. 
The  everyday  bread  in  the  Lincoln  family  was  corndodger, 
wheat  cakes  being  a  dainty  reserved  for  Sundays  and  spe 
cial  occasions.  Food  was  prepared  in  the  simplest  way, 
owing  to  a  lack  of  facilities,  and  the  Lincolns  were  not  the 
only  family  who  had  none  of  our  modern  conveniences. 
There  was  no  stove,  the  nearest  approach  to  one  being 
the  Dutch  oven.  This,  with  an  iron  kettle,  made  up  the 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  13 

outfit  of  most  kitchens,  with  the  exception  of  an  old  piece 
of  tin  punched  full  of  holes  to  serve  as  a  grater,  or,  as  it 
was  then  called,  a  "gritter."  Sometimes  it  was  used  to 
make  corn  meal,  but  this  was  a  slow  and  laborious  process. 
Most  of  the  dishes  were  pewter;  the  spoons  were  iron;  the 
knives  had  horn  handles.  The  War  of  1812  had  just  closed. 
The  embargo  act  had  destroyed  commerce.  Few  things 
were  manufactured  in  this  country,  and  those  imported  were 
too  expensive  for  the  use  of  the  common  people.  Thorns 
were  used  for  pins,  crusts  of  rye  bread  for  coffee,  leaves  of 
various  herbs  for  tea,  and  corn  whisky  diluted  with  water 
was  a  common  drink. 

During  the  summer  of  1818  a  mysterious  disease  called 
the  " milk-sick"  broke  out  in  Indiana.  It  seems  to  have  been 
something  like  quick  consumption.  Many  died  of  it,  among 
the  number  the  mother  of  Lincoln.  There  was  no  doctor 
in  that  distant  wilderness  to  care  for  the  sick,  nor  could 
a  minister  be  found  to  bury  the  dead.  Soon  after  the 
death  of  his  mother,  Lincoln  wrote  what  he  says  was  his 
first  letter,  —  a  letter  asking  his  old  friend,  Parson  Elkin, 
to  come  and  preach  a  memorial  sermon,  which  the  parson 
did.  It  was  a  memorable  occasion  to  Lincoln.  He  said 
of  his  mother,  "  All  that  I  am,  or  hope  to  be,  I  owe  to  my 
angel  mother." 

Thomas  Lincoln  was  left  with  the  care  of  his  two  chil 
dren,  Sarah,  twelve  years  of  age,  Abraham,  nine,  and 
Dennis  Hanks,  eighteen  months  younger.  It  was  a  hard 
situation.  The  few  comforts  that  had  been  known  were 
exchanged  for  a  home  more  forlorn  than  you  can  possibly 
imagine.  But  Thomas  Lincoln  did  not  allow  anything 
to  worry  him  long.  His  was  too  easy  a  nature  for  that. 


14  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

He  hoped  the  good  Lord  would  send  them  help  somehow 
and  some  day,  but  how  and  when  he  did  not  feel  called 
upon  to  be  concerned  about.  In  the  fall  of  1819  he  went 
to  Kentucky  and  married  Mrs.  Sally  Johnston,  a  widow 
with  three  children. 

The  new  mother  brought  furnishings  unknown  in  the 
Lincoln  home.  There  were  tables,  chairs,  a  bureau,  cloth 
ing,  crockery,  bedding,  knives,  forks,  and  many  other  com 
forts  which  the  Lincoln  family  had  always  done  without. 

Abraham  was  ten  years  of  age  when  his  new  mother 
came.  They  were  good  friends  at  once.  Years  afterwards 
she  said  of  him,  "He  never  gave  me  a  cross  word  or  look, 
and  never  refused,  in  fact  or  in  appearance,  to  do  anything 
I  requested  of  him."  He  said  of  her,  "She  was  a  noble 
woman,  affectionate,  good,  and  kind." 

From  the  time  he  was  ten  till  he  was  twenty-three 
Lincoln  was  rarely  idle.  He  learned  to  do  all  the  kinds 
of  work  which  the  early  settlers,  wholly  dependent  upon 
themselves,  must  do,  —  to  drive,  to  plow  with  the  old  shovel 
plow,  to  use  the  sickle,  to  thresh  wheat  with  a  flail,  to  fan 
and  clean  it  with  a  sheet,  and  to  take  the  grain  to  mill  and 
grind  it.  His  father  taught  him  the  rudiments  of  carpen 
try  and  cabinetmaking.  He  became  one  of  the  strongest 
and  most  popular  "hands"  in  the  vicinity.  Much  of  the 
time  he  worked  as  a  hired  boy  on  some  neighbor's  farm  for 
twenty-five  cents  a  day,  the  wages  being  paid  to  his  father. 
He  served  as  hostler,  plowman,  wood  chopper,  carpenter, 
and  helped  with  the  "  chores." 

Hunting  was  the  most  common  sport  of  the  day,  but  one 
in  which  young  Lincoln  seems  to  have  had  little  or  no  interest. 
He  was  fond  of  fishing,  swimming,  wrestling,  and  jumping. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  15 

He  ran  races  at  the  noonday  rest.  He  was  present  at  every 
country  horse  race  and  fox  chase.  He  enjoyed  most  the 
occasions  that  brought  men  together,  —  the  "raising,"  the 
husking  bee,  the  spelling  school.  At  all  these  he  was  very 
popular.  He  was  noted  for  his  wit,  his  stories,  his  good 
nature,  his  practical  jokes,  and  a  kind  of  rough  politeness. 

Lincoln  says  he  went  to  school  by  "littles"  and  not  more 
than  a  year  altogether ;  but  he  learned  to  read,  to  love  read 
ing,  and  to  love  good  books  ;  and  if  one  does  that  and  thinks 
about  what  he  reads,  he  is  in  a  fair  way  to  become  well 
educated.  Lincoln  had  access  to  few  books,  but  they 
were  good  ones.  He  read  them  again  and  again  and  knew 
them  thoroughly.  Among  them  were  the  Bible,  "^Esop's 
Fables,"  "  Robinson  Crusoe,"  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  a  "  His 
tory  of  the  United  States,"  Weems's  "Life  of  Washington," 
and  the  Statutes  of  Indiana. 

Lincoln  told  a  friend  that  he  read  every  book  that  he 
heard  of  in  a  circle  of  fifty  miles  from  his  home.  He  read 
nights,  and  mornings  as  soon  as  it  was  light.  He  made 
long  extracts  from  what  he  read  and  discussed  his  reading 
with  others.  Mr.  Jones,  the  storekeeper,  took  a  Louisville 
paper,  and  Lincoln  went  regularly  to  read  it.  All  the  men 
and  boys  in  the  neighborhood  gathered  at  the  store  and  dis 
cussed  the  contents  of  the  paper.  Lincoln  read  Cooper's 
"  Leatherstocking  Tales  "  with  rapturous  delight.  It  is  said 
that  he  had  a  hunger  for  books  that  was  almost  pathetic. 
He  was  not,  however,  a  weak  bookworm.  He  was  fond 
of  athletic  sports,  excelled  any  boy  of  his  age  in  wrestling, 
and  was  a  champion  at  every  game  of  muscular  skill. 

At  seventeen  years  of  age  Lincoln  walked  a  long  distance 
to  hear  one  of  the  famous  Breckenridges  of  Kentucky  speak 


1 6  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

at  a  murder  trial.  This  speech  seemed  to  arouse  the  latent 
genius  of  the  young  lad,  and  from  that  time  on  he  practiced 
speaking.  He  would  speak  on  any  topic  that  had  aroused 
the  interest  of  the  neighborhood, — road  building,  school 
tax,  bounty  on  wolves,  etc.  His  fondness  for  speech  mak 
ing  led  him  to  attend  all  the  trials  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  to  be  often  present  at  the  sessions  of  the  court  held 
fifteen  miles  away. 

Lincoln  could  never  be  satisfied  on  any  question  till  he 
understood  it  thoroughly,  nor  could  he  give  up  a  difficult 
problem  till  he  had  mastered  it. 

When  he  was  eighteen  or  nineteen  years  of  age  Lincoln 
spent  some  months  as  a  boatman  on  the  Ohio  and  Missis 
sippi  rivers.  All  that  he  saw  of  life  in  his  early  years, 
outside  his  own  neighborhood,  was  on  these  rivers,  which 
offered  to  the  West  of  that  day  the  only  route  to  the  outer 
world.  This  river  life  was  peculiar.  There  were  all  sorts 
of  craft, —  steamboats,  keel  boats,  flat  boats,  pirogues,  tim 
ber  rafts,  "arks,"  "  sleds,"  "  Orleans  boats,"  and  "broad 
horns."  None  of  these  ran  on  any  time  schedule.  No  one 
was  in  a  hurry.  They  stopped  anywhere  to  let  off  passen 
gers.  They  tied  up  wherever  it  was  convenient.  This  expe 
rience  must  have  widened  Lincoln's  ideas  of  life. 

In  the  spring  of  1830  the  Lincolns  moved  to  Sangamon 
County,  Illinois.  In  the  summer  of  that  year  the  young 
man  started  out  to  shift  for  himself.  He  left  home  empty- 
handed.  He  had  not  even  a  respectable  suit  of  clothes. 
He  had  no  trade,  no  profession,  no  land,  no  patron,  no  in 
fluence,  but  he  was  strong,  good-tempered,  and  industrious. 
He  was  already  some  months  over  twenty-one  years  of 
age.  The  first  work  he  did  was  to  split  rails  in  payment 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  17 

for  enough  brown  jean  to  make  a  pair  of  trousers,  splitting 
four  hundred  rails  for  each  yard  of  cloth. 

Lincoln  was  six  feet  four  inches  tall,  and  very  proud  of 
his  height,  as  well  as  of  his  strength.  It  is  said  that  he 
could  outlift,  outwork,  and  outwrestle  any  man  he  ever 
met.  His  strength  won  him  friends,  but  his  good  nature, 
wit,  stories,  and  skill  in  debate  did  far  more  for  him. 

In  1831  Lincoln  went  again  to  New  Orleans  and  remained 
for  a  month.  It  was  here  that  he  first  saw  the  horrible 
side  of  slavery, —  the  negroes  in  chains,  the  whippings  and 
scourgings.  In  later  life  he  often  referred  to  this  visit. 

Soon  after  his  return  from  New  Orleans  he  became  a 
clerk  in  a  store  and  mill  at  New  Salem,  Illinois.  It  was  at 
this  time  that  he  received  the  title  "Honest  Abe."  The 
following  incidents,  characteristic  of  the  man,  show  why  he 
was  regarded  as  being  unusually  honest.  On  one  occasion 
he  discovered  that  he  had  taken  six  and  a  quarter  cents 
too  much  from  a  customer.  After  the  store  was  closed  for 
the  day  he  walked  three  miles  to  return  the  money.  On 
another  occasion  his  last  transaction  for  the  day  was  to  sell 
a  customer  half  a  pound  of  tea.  In  the  morning  he  found 
in  the  scales  a  four-ounce  weight.  Seeing  his  mistake  of 
the  night  before,  he  closed  the  store  and  hurried  to  deliver 
the  rest  of  the  tea. 

Since  leaving  Indiana,  Lincoln  had  read  but  little.  The 
store  life  gave  leisure  for  reading,  and  he  began  to  look 
about  for  books.  More  than  ever  did  he  realize  that  one's 
power  over  men  depends  upon  knowledge.  He  began  the 
study  of  English,  walking  six  miles  to  borrow  a  copy  of 
Kirkham's  Grammar,  the  only  book  on  the  subject  in  that 
section  of  the  country. 


1 8  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

LINCOLN  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE 

The  Black  Hawk  War  broke  out  in  1 8  3  2 .  Lincoln  enlisted 
and  was  chosen  captain  of  his  company.  At  the  close  of 
the  war  he  became  a  candidate  for  the  legislature,  but  was 
defeated,  the  only  time  he  ever  suffered  defeat  by  a  direct 
vote  of  the  people.  His  popularity  where  he  was  known 
was  shown  by  the  fact  that  his  own  district,  though  opposed 
to  him  politically,  gave  him  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
out  of  three  hundred  votes. 

Lincoln  sought  employment  as  a  clerk,  but  being  unable 
to  secure  it  went  into  partnership  with  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Berry  and  bought  out,  one  after  another,  the  three 
grocery  stores  of  New  Salem.  All  his  leisure  at  this  time 
was  taken  up  in  reading  borrowed  copies  of  Shakespeare 
and  Burns,  and  in  studying  law,  which  he  now  undertook 
seriously.  He  bought  of  an  emigrant  a  barrel  partly  filled 
with  refuse.  At  the  bottom  he  found  a  copy  of  Black- 
stone's  "Commentaries,"  which  he  read  with  the  greatest 
interest.  His  partner's  dissolute  habits  and  his  own  absorp 
tion  in  his  books  were  fatal  to  business,  so  that  before  long 
Lincoln  had  saddled  upon  him  a  debt  which  it  took  him 
many  years  to  pay.  In  1833  he  was  made  postmaster,  but 
the  office  was  worth  very  little  financially. 

The  same  year  he  was  made  deputy  county  surveyor.  He 
knew  nothing  of  surveying,  but  in  six  weeks  he  had  mastered 
all  the  books  he  could  get  that  treated  of  that  subject. 
This  is  another  illustration  of  his  power  of  application. 
His  surveys  are  said  to  have  been  remarkably  accurate. 
His  pay  as  surveyor  was  three  dollars  a  day,  a  far  larger 
sum  than  he  had  ever  earned  before. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN  19 

In  1834  Lincoln  was  elected  to  the  legislature  and  began 
to  study  law  as  a  matter  of  business  instead  of  pleasure. 
Twenty  years  later,  when  a  young  man  asked  him  how  to 
become  a  lawyer,  he  recommended  the  reading  of  certain 
books  and  then  said,  "  Work,  work,  work  is  the  main  thing." 

In  1836  Lincoln  was  reflected  to  the  legislature,  and 
during  the  same  year  admitted  to  the  practice  of  law.  The 
legislature  that  year  contained  many  remarkable  men.  One 
afterwards  became  President  of  the  United  States  ;  another 
became  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  the  same  office ;  six 
became  United  States  senators ;  eight,  members  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  ;  one,  Secretary  of  the  Interior  ; 
three,  judges  of  the  state  Supreme  Court.  It  is  certainly 
remarkable  that  so  many  able  men  should  have  been  at  the 
same  time  members  of  the  legislature  of  a  young  back 
woods  state.  The  influence  of  close  association  with  these 
men  during  the  formative  period  of  Lincoln's  life  can 
hardly  be  overestimated. 

It  was  at  this  session  of  the  legislature  that  an  event 
occurred  which  showed  the  thorough  honesty  of  the  man. 
The  delegation  from  his  county  had  been  pledged  to  use 
all  honorable  efforts  to  secure  the  removal  of  the  state 
capital  to  Springfield.  The  matter  was  put  into  Lincoln's 
hands.  He  was  promised  the  support  of  influential  men 
if  he  in  turn  would  support  another  measure  which  he 
believed  to  be  wrong.  This  he  refused  to  do.  The  influ 
ence  brought  to  bear  upon  him  both  by  those  who  wished 
the  capital  at  Springfield  and  by  those  interested  in  the 
other  measure  was  very  great.  There  was  an  all-night 
meeting  of  interested  members.  Later  there  was  another 
meeting,  at  which  there  were  present  others  who  were  not 


20  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

members  of  the  legislature  but  who  were  interested  in  one 
or  another  of  the  measures  being  considered.  A  long  session 
was  closed  with  the  following  declaration  by  Mr.  Lincoln : 

You  may  burn  my  body  to  ashes  and  scatter  them  to  the  winds  of 
heaven ;  you  may  drag  down  my  soul  to  the  regions  of  darkness  and 
despair  to  be  tormented  forever ;  but  you  will  never  get  me  to  sup 
port  a  measure  which  I  believe  to  be  wrong,  although  by  doing  so  I 
may  accomplish  that  which  I  believe  is  right. 

At  the  close  of  this  session  of  the  legislature  Lincoln 
moved  to  Springfield  and  became  the  law  partner  of  John  T. 
Stuart.  He  was  elected  to  the  legislature  in  1834  and 
served  till  1842.  In  1842  he  married  Mary  Todd,  a  bril 
liant,  ambitious,  and  highly  educated  girl. 

In  1841  Lincoln's  friends  offered  to  support  him  for  the 
office  of  governor  of  his  state,  but  he  declined,  as  he  wished 
to  go  to  Congress.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  in  1846.  At  the  close  of  his  term  in 
Congress  he  seemed  to  have  done  with  politics.  His  friends 
wished  him  to  take  the  governorship  of.  the  territory  of 
Oregon,  believing  that  it  would  soon  be  admitted  as  a  state 
and  that  he  could  be  elected  to  the  Senate,  but  his  wife 
was  unwilling  to  go  so  far  west. 

Lincoln  had  not  yet  paid  all  the  indebtedness  incurred 
through  the  failure  of  the  New  Salem  store  years  before  ; 
his  father  and  mother  were  dependent  upon  him  for  many 
of  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  in  various  ways  he  was  help 
ing  other  relatives.  His  own  family  was  growing  and  he 
needed  to  be  earning  money,  so  he  at  once  resumed  the 
practice  of  law. 

Lincoln  was  very  popular  wherever  he  went.  To  all  he 
was  sympathizing  and  kind-hearted.  Upon  the  circuit  he 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  21 

was  unassuming,  kind,  and  friendly.  He  was  remarkably 
generous  to  young  lawyers  just  entering  upon  their  pro 
fession.  It  is  said  that  no  young  lawyer  ever  practiced  with 
Lincoln  who  did  not  throughout  his  after  life  have  a  great 
personal  regard  for  him. 

Lincoln  had  comparatively  few  cases  of  large  importance. 
In  the  main  they  were  litigations  about  boundary  lines, 
deeds,  damages  by  wandering  cattle,  and  quarrels  at  county 
festivities.  When  a  client  came  to  him  his  first  effort  was 
to  arrange  matters  so  as  to  avoid  a  suit  if  possible.  In  a 
law  lecture  given  about  1850  he  said: 

Discourage  litigation.  Persuade  your  neighbors  to  compromise 
whenever  you  can.  Point  out  to  them  how  the  nominal  winner  is 
often  a  real  loser  —  in  fees,  expenses,  and  waste  of  time.  As  a  peace 
maker  the  lawyer  has  a  superior  opportunity  of  being  a  good  man. 
There  will  still  be  business  enough.  Never  stir  up  litigation.  A  worse 
man  can  scarcely  be  found  than  he  who  habitually  overhauls  the  regis 
ter  of  deeds  in  search  of  defective  titles  whereon  to  stir  up  a  strife 
and  put  money  in  his  pocket.  A  moral  tone  ought  to  be  infused  into 
the  profession  which  should  drive  such  men  out  of  it. 

To  the  astonishment  of  his  clients  and  the  wrath  of  his 
fellow-lawyers  Lincoln  was  very  moderate  in  his  charges. 
On  one  occasion  Judge  Davis  remonstrated  with  him,  say 
ing:  "You  are  pauperizing  this  court,  Mr.  Lincoln;  you 
are  ruining  your  fellows.  Unless  you  quit  this  ridiculous 
policy,  we  shall  all  have  to  go  to  farming."  Lincoln,  how 
ever,  made  no  change  in  his  habits  in  this  respect.  In 
1847  the  total  earnings  of  Lincoln  &  Herndon  were  only 
about  $1500.  For  the  ten  years  preceding  his  election 
as  President,  Lincoln's  earnings  averaged  from  $2000  to 
$3000  a  year. 


22  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

The  moral  make-up  of  Lincoln  is  indicated  by  the  fact 
that  he  never  undertook  a  cause  of  doubtful  morality.  He 
was  a  very  effective  jury  lawyer,  largely  because  people 
believed  him  to  be  thoroughly  honest.  His  knowledge  of 
the  common  people  and  of  human  nature  was  remarkable. 
He  made  more  of  the  equities  of  the  case  than  of  the  tech 
nicalities  of  the  law.  His  chief  strength  was  his  skill  in 
examining  witnesses.  Judge  Scott  said  of  him  that  much 
of  the  force  of  his  argument  lay  in  his  logical  statement  of 
the  facts  of  the  case.  Besides,  he  had  the  faculty  of  mak 
ing  the  jury  believe  that  they  were  trying  the  case  and  that 
he  was  their  assistant. 

There  has  been  a  general  impression  that  Lincoln  never 
rose  to  the  first  rank  in  his  profession.  This  has  probably 
come  from  the  fact  that  the  public  has  been  interested  in 
his  political  rather  than  his  professional  career.  From  1 840 
to  1 86 1  he  had  nearly  one  hundred  cases  before  the  Illinois 
Supreme  Court,  though  in  this  period  he  was  two  years  in 
Congress  and  spent  much  time  in  opposing  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise.  This  record  was  not  exceeded 
by  any  of  Lincoln's  Illinois  contemporaries. 

Among  his  important  cases  was  one  for  the  Illinois  Cen 
tral  Railroad,  the  case  really  involving  the  existence  of  the 
road.  Lincoln  won  the  case  and  presented  a  bill  for  $2000. 
The  officer  to  whom  it  was  presented  said,  "  Why,  this  is  as 
much  as  a  first-class  lawyer  would  have  charged."  Lincoln 
was  incensed  and  withdrew  the  bill.  Consulting  with  lead 
ing  lawyers,  they  all  agreed  that  $5000  would  be  a  mod 
erate  charge.  Lincoln  sued  the  company  for  that  amount 
and  won  his  case.  It  is  said  that  this  is  the  only  case  in 
which  he  sued  for  a  fee. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  23 

From  1849  to  1857  Lincoln  gave  himself  up  to  the  practice 
of  his  profession,  but  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise 
in  1854  aroused  him  as  nothing  up  to  that  time  seems  to  have 
done.  He  had  early  put  himself  on  record  in  opposition  to 
slavery.  The  Illinois  legislature  passed  resolutions  in  regard 
to  slavery  of  which  Lincoln,  then  a  member  of  the  legislature, 
did  not  approve.  He  and  Daniel  Stone  were  the  only  mem 
bers  of  the  legislature  opposed  to  them.  They  drew  up  and 
signed  a  document  protesting  against  the  action  taken. 

At  the  time  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  which  repealed 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  Richard  Yates  was  a  candidate  for 
Congress  from  Lincoln's  district.  Lincoln  volunteered  to 
speak  for  him,  the  agreement  being  that  he  should  make  his 
whole  argument  against  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill.  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  by  his  attitude  on  the  bill  aroused  such  antago 
nism  that  when  he  spoke  in  Chicago  he  was  hooted  from  the 
platform.  His  power  over  men  was  so  great,  however,  that 
he  soon  began  to  win  his  way  again  and  had  aroused  much 
of  the  old  enthusiasm  when  in  October  he  went  to  Spring 
field  to  speak  at  the  annual  state  fair.  He  spoke  for  three 
hours  to  a  great  crowd.  At  the  close  of  his  speech  it  was 
announced  that  Mr.  Lincoln  would  reply  to  him  the  next 
day.  Lincoln  did  so.  Never  had  he  spoken  so  well.  He 
surprised  those  who  had  expected  the  most  of  him.  The 
people  were  so  aroused  that  Douglas  felt  compelled  to 
reply  to  him  on  the  following  day.  These  speeches  on  the 
3d,  4th,  and  5th  of  October  really  formed  the  opening  of 
the  great  Lincoln-Douglas  debates.  They  made  Lincoln 
the  leader  in  the  fight  against  slavery. 

Twelve  days  after  his  Springfield  speech  Lincoln  made  an 
other  at  Peoria.  In  that  speech,  speaking  of  slavery,  he  said : 


24  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

I  hate  it  because  of  the  monstrous  injustice  of  slavery  itself.  I 
hate  it  because  it  deprives  our  republican  example  of  its  just  influence 
in  the  world  ;  enables  the  enemies  of  free  institutions  with  plausibility 
to  taunt  us  as  hypocrites ;  and  causes  the  real  friends  of  freedom  to 
doubt  our  sincerity. 

Lincoln  was  again  elected  to  the  legislature,  but  resigned 
to  try  to  secure  his  election  to  the  United  States  Senate. 
The  first  vote  stood:  Lincoln, 44;  Shields,  41 ;  Trumbull,  5. 
The  choice  finally  fell  on  Lyman  Trumbull  as  a  compro 
mise.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was  fortunate 
both  for  Lincoln  and  for  the  country  that  he  was  not 
elected,  as  he  was  left  free  to  do  the  work  that  he  could 
hardly  have  found  time  for  had  he  been  a  senator. 

A  convention  was  held  at  Bloomington  on  May  29,  1855, 
for  the  purpose  of  getting  all  who  were  opposed  to  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  bill  to  act  together.  There  were  pres 
ent  Whigs,  Democrats,  and  Abolitionists.  The  excite 
ment  throughout  the  state  over  Kansas  affairs  had  become 
intense.  The  new  state  was  in  the  hands  of  a  pro-slavery 
mob,  her  governor  was  a  prisoner,  her  capital  in  ruins,  her 
voters  intimidated.  Charles  Sumner  had  been  assaulted 
in  the  United  States  Senate.  Paul  Selby,  who  had  been 
expected  to  preside  over  the  meeting,  was  struck  down  at 
home  by  a  cowardly  blow  from  a  political  opponent.  All 
these  things  made  the  meeting  one  of  great  interest  and 
importance.  A  platform  was  adopted,  delegates  to  the 
national  convention  were  chosen,  and  speeches  were  made. 
All  were  earnest,  but  there  was  a  feeling  that  they  were 
still  Whigs,  Democrats,  Abolitionists, — members  of  sepa 
rate  parties.  There  had  not  yet  been  spoken  the  word  that 
would  fuse  them  into  one  body.  At  this  point  Lincoln  was 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  25 

called  for,  and  coming  forward  he  made  what  many  regarded 
as  the  greatest  speech  of  his  life.  It  has  been  known  as  the 
"lost  speech"  because  it  was  not  reported.  The  reporters 
were  so  carried  away  that  they  forgot  to  take  notes.  Mr. 
Medill  of  the  Chicago  Tribune  was  there.  He  said  : 

I  well  remember  that  after  Mr.  Lincoln  sat  down  and  calm  had 
succeeded  the  tempest,  I  waked  out  of  a  sort  of  hypnotic  trance,  and 
then  thought  of  my  report.  There  was  nothing  written  but  an  abbre 
viated  introduction.  It  was  some  sort  of  satisfaction  to  find  that  all 
the  newspaper  men  present  had  been  equally  carried  away  by  the 
excitement  caused  by  the  wonderful  oration,  and  had  made  no  report 
or  sketch  of  the  speech. 

"  The  greatest  speech  ever  made  in  Illinois,  and  it  puts 
Lincoln  on  the  track  for  the  Presidency,"  was  the  com 
ment  made  by  enthusiastic  Republicans.  In  fact,  at  the 
next  national  convention,  held  three  weeks  later,  the  first 
Republican  national  convention,  Lincoln  was  second  on  the 
list  of  candidates,  receiving  one  hundred  and  ten  votes, 
though  he  was  not  a  candidate,  no  delegates  had  been 
instructed  for  him,  and  he  himself  had  no  idea  that  any 
one  would  vote  for  him.  It  was  a  spontaneous  response 
to  his  Bloomington  speech,  which,  though  not  reported  in 
words,  was  enthusiastically  written  about  in  all  the  leading 
Illinois  papers,  and  was  more  talked  about  by  those  who 
were  present  than  any  other  speech  that  had  ever  been 
made  in  the  state.  During  the  Fremont  campaign  Lincoln 
made  more  than  fifty  speeches,  all  cool,  argumentative,  his 
torical.  He  was  building  for  the  future. 

Soon  after  the  inauguration  of  Buchanan,  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  in  a  decision  of  the  Dred  Scott 
case,  declared  that  a  negro  could  not  sue  in  the  United 


26  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

States  courts  and  that  Congress  could  not  prohibit  slavery 
in  the  territories.  This  decision  aroused  the  North  as 
nothing  had  done  before.  Douglas  hastened  home  to  calm 
his  constituents.  Lincoln  answered  his  speeches.  The  two 
men  became  candidates  for  the  United  States  Senate,  and 
the  fight  for  the  control  of  the  legislature  was  really  a 
fight  for  the  senatorship.  The  question  at  issue  was  that 
of  slavery.  A  series  of  joint  discussions  between  Lincoln 
and  Douglas  was  arranged.  These  discussions  aroused 
the  greatest  enthusiasm.  Perhaps  nothing  of  the  kind  in 
the  history  of  politics  in  our  country  has  equaled  it.  The 
Republicans  of  Illinois  supported  Lincoln  with  unanimity 
and  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm.  On  the  evening  of  his 
nomination  Lincoln  made  an  address  which  he  opened  with 
the  following  paragraph : 

A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  I  believe  that  this 
government  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.  I 
do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall,  but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be 
divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing  or  all  the  other. 

This  was  the  keynote  of  Lincoln's  campaign.  It  was  fol 
lowed  by  the  famous  charge  of  conspiracy  in  which  Lincoln 
charged  that  Pierce,  Buchanan,  Chief  Justice  Taney,  and 
Douglas  had  carried  out  a  carefully  prepared  plan  to  legal 
ize  the  institution  of  slavery  in  all  the  states,  old  as  well 
as  new.  This  charge  was  argued  with  great  skill. 

In  the  second  of  the  joint  debates  with  Douglas,  Lincoln 
asked  him  this  question,  "  Can  the  people  of  a  United  States 
territory  in  any  lawful  way,  against  the  wishes  of  any  citi 
zen  of  the  United  States,  exclude  slavery  from  its  limits 
prior  to  the  formation  of  a  state  constitution  ? "  Lincoln 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


27 


had  consulted  with  several  of  his  friends  before  asking  the 
question  and  they  had  all  counseled  against  it,  saying  that 
Douglas  would  say  Yes  and  thus  secure  his  election  to 
the  United  States  Senate.  Lincoln  said  that  the  question 
would  put  Douglas  in  an  embarrassing  position.  If  he 
answered  No,  the  people  of  Illinois  would  never  elect  him 
to  the  Senate  ;  if  he  said  Yes,  the  South  would  never  sup 
port  him  for  the  Presidency.  Events  showed  the  wisdom 
of  Lincoln's  course.  Douglas  did  answer  Yes.  The  people 
of  Illinois  did  elect  him  to  the  Senate,  and  the  South  refused 
to  support  him  for  the  Presidency  at  the  next  election, 
which  resulted  in  two  Democratic  tickets  and  the  election 
of  Lincoln.  In  a  word,  Lincoln  won  the  Presidency  by 
losing  the  senatorship.  Like  all  great  men  he  was  able 
and  willing  to  sacrifice  the  present  for  the  sake  of  the 
future. 

In  the  fall  of  1859  Lincoln  made  a  speech  at  Cooper 
Union  in  New  York  City  to  an  audience  that  was  notable 
even  for  New  York.  There  were  present  such  men  as 
William  Cullen  Bryant,  Horace  Greeley,  and  David  Dudley 
Field.  The  speech  made  a  great  impression.  In  the  course 
of  it  Lincoln  said,  "  Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes 
might,  and  in  that  faith  let  us  to  the  end  dare  to  do  our 
duty  as  we  understand  it." 

This  speech  was  followed  by  others  in  New  England 
which  made  Lincoln  better  and  more  favorably  known  in 
the  East  and  contributed  not  a  little  towards  giving  him  the 
nomination  for  the  Presidency.  This  is  no  place  to  give 
an  account  of  the  struggle  between  the  friends  of  Lincoln, 
Seward,  and  others  at  the  national  convention.  Lincoln 
was  nominated  and  elected. 


28  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT 

Before  Lincoln's  inauguration  several  of  the  states  had 
seceded.  Others  were  threatening  to  do  so.  The  Repub 
licans  were  divided  in  opinion  as  to  what  should  be  done. 
Lincoln's  life  was  threatened  and  his  friends  insisted  that 
he  should  go  to  Washington  at  another  time  than  had  been 
planned.  There  was  much  feeling  over  cabinet  positions, 
as  is  likely  always  to  be  the  case.  Not  a  few  said  that 
Lincoln  would  be  simply  the  tool  of  Seward ;  but  the  men 
appointed  to  cabinet  positions  were  those  whom  Lincoln 
had  determined  upon  months  before. 

Lincoln  closed  his  first  inaugural  address  as  follows : 

I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies  but  friends.  We  must 
not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained,  it  must  not 
break  the  bonds  of  our  affection.  The  mystic  chords  of  memory, 
stretching  from  every  battlefield  and  patriot  grave  to  every  living 
heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the 
chorus  of  the  Union  when  again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by 
the  better  angels  of  our  nature. 

The  general  feeling  that  Lincoln  would  be  President  in 
name  only  —  a  feeling  which  Seward  shared,  thinking, 
apparently,  that  he  as  Secretary  of  State  would  be  the 
controlling  power  in  the  new  administration  —  was  soon 
dissipated.  Perhaps  no  President  of  the  United  States 
ever  so  completely  overshadowed  his  cabinet  as  did 
Lincoln,  although  it  was  made  up  of  experienced  and 
remarkably  able  men. 

For  a  long  time  Lincoln  was  in  doubt  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  which  had  been  dis 
cussed  in  the  cabinet  and  which  was  a  matter  that  many 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  29 

people  had  close  at  heart.  He  heard  all  parties  on  the 
question  and  gave  it  the  most  careful  consideration,  finally 
issuing  the  proclamation  on  the  ist  of  January,  1863,  set 
tling  a  question  that  had  long  perplexed  him. 

At  the  dedication  of  the  national  cemetery  at  Gettys 
burg  the  oration  was  given  by  Edward  Everett,  the  most 
polished  speaker  of  his  time.  It  is  now  forgotten.  Lincoln 
spoke  two  minutes  and  said  that  which  will  always  be 
remembered.  These  are  his  words  : 

Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth  on  this 
continent  a  new  nation  conceived  in  liberty  and  dedicated  to  the  prop 
osition  that  all  men  are  created  equal.  Now  we  are  engaged  in  a 
great  civil  war,  testing  whether  that  nation  or  any  nation  so  conceived 
and  so  dedicated  can  long  endure.  We  are  met  on  a  great  battlefield 
of  that  war.  We  have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a 
final  resting  place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation 
might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we  should  do  this. 
But  in  a  larger  sense  we  cannot  dedicate,  we  cannot  hallow  this 
ground.  The  brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here  have 
consecrated  it  far  above  our  poor  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world 
will  little  note,  nor  long  remember,  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can 
never  forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather,  to 
be  dedicated  here  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us  —  that  from 
these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for 
which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion  ;  that  we  here 
highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain ;  that  this 
nation  under  God  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom;  and  that 
government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people  shall 
not  perish  from  the  earth. 

Lincoln  was  tender-hearted  in  the  extreme.  There  are 
numberless  instances  to  prove  this.  He  could  never  resist 
the  appeals  of  wives  and  mothers  of  soldiers  who  had  got 


30  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

into  trouble.    The  following  are  a  few  illustrations  of  many, 
many  cases. 

Let  the  execution  of  —  —  be  stayed  until  further  orders. 

A.  LINCOLN. 

Postpone  the  execution  of—  —two  weeks.  Hear  what  his  friends 
have  to  say  in  mitigation  and  report  to  me.  A.  LINCOLN. 

Suspend  the  execution  of until  further  orders,  and  in  meantime 

send  me  a  record  of  his  trial.  A.  LINCOLN. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  is  characteristic. 

I  have  been  shown  in  the  files  of  the  War  Department  a  statement 
that  you  are  the  mother  of  five  sons  who  have  died  gloriously  on  the 
field  of  battle.  I  feel  how  weak  and  fruitless  must  be  any  words  of 
mine  which  should  attempt  to  beguile  you  from  your  grief  for  a  loss 
so  overwhelming,  but  I  cannot  refrain  from  tendering  to  you  the  con 
solation  which  may  be  found  in  the  thanks  of  the  republic  they  died 
to  save.  I  pray  that  our  Heavenly  Father  may  assuage  the  anguish 
of  your  bereavement  and  leave  you  only  the  cherished  memory  of  the 
loved  and  the  lost,  and  the  solemn  pride  that  must  be  yours  to  have 
laid  so  costly  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  freedom. 

"  The  war  is  over  "  was  the  announcement  made  on  the 
1 4th  of  April,  1865.  The  edition  of  the  morning  papers 
on  the  1 5th  stated  that  the  President  of  the  United  States 
was  mortally  wounded.  Two  hours  later  his  death  was 
announced. 

During  the  time  that  Lincoln  was^  President  he  was 
maligned,  abused,  vilified,  and  ridiculed  as  perhaps  no  other 
man  had  ever  been,  but  at  his  death  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  paid  tribute  to  his  character.  As  the  years  have  gone 
by  the  respect  in  which  his  memory  is  held  has  continually 
grown  and  deepened,  till  his  place  in  history  as  one  of  the 
great  benefactors  of  the  world  is  universally  recognized. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  31 

The  feeling  that  Lincoln  had  done  his  work,  and  the 
regret  that  he  could  not  have  survived  its  accomplishment, 
is  perhaps  best  expressed  in  the  following  poem  by  Walt 
Whitman. 

O  Captain !  my  Captain !  our  fearful  trip  is  done, 
The  ship  has  weather'd  every  rock,  the  prize  we  sought  is  won, 
The  port  is  near,  the  bells  I  hear,  the  people  all  exulting, 
While  follow  eyes  the  steady  keel,  the  vessel  grim  and  daring. 

But  O  heart !  heart !  heart  ! 

O  the  bleeding  drops  of  red, 
Where  on  deck  my  Captain  lies, 

Fallen  cold  and  dead. 

O  Captain!  my  Captain!  rise  up  and  hear  the  bells, 

Rise  up  —  for  you  the  flag  is  flung  —  for  you  the  bugle  trills, 

For    you    bouquets    and    ribbon'd   wreaths — for  you   the   shores 

a-crowding. 
For  you  they  call,  the  surging  mass,  their  eager  faces  turning. 

Here,  Captain!  dear  father! 

This  arm  beneath  your  head ! 
It  is  some  dream  that  on  the  deck 

You've  fallen  cold  and  dead. 

My  Captain  does  not  answer,  his  lips  are  pale  and  still, 
My  father  does  not  feel  my  arms,  he  has  no  pulse  nor  will. 
The  ship  is  anchored  safe  and  sound,  its  voyage  closed  and  done, 
From  fearful  trip  the  victor  ship  comes  in  with  object  won. 

Exult,  O  shores,  and  ring,  O  bells  ! 

But  I  with  mournful  tread 
Walk  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 

Fallen  cold  and  dead. 


Peter  Cooper 


PETER    COOPER 

1791-1883 

PETER  COOPER,  manufacturer,  inventor,  and  philanthro 
pist,  was  born  on  the  I2th  of  February,  1791,  in  New  York, 
which  city  he  saw  grow  from  a  town  of  twenty-seven 
thousand  inhabitants  to  the  most  important  city  of  the 
New  World,  with  a  population  exceeding  a  million. 

Peter  Cooper  came  of  patriotic  stock.  His  great-great 
grandfather,  Obadiah  Cooper,  came  from  England  about 
1662  and  settled  at  Fishkill-on-the-Hudson.  His  father, 
John  Cooper,  served  in  the  Revolution  for  four  years  as  a 
lieutenant  in  the  New  York  militia.  His  mother,  Marga 
ret  Campbell,  was  the  daughter  of  General  Campbell,  who 
served  throughout  the  Revolution. 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolution  Peter's  father  established 
himself  as  a  hatter  in  New  York  City.  He  prospered,  and 
accumulated  what  was  for  those  days  considerable  prop 
erty,  but,  like  many  another,  he  was  not  willing  to  let  well 
enough  alone.  Instead  of  caring  for  his  rapidly  growing 
business  in  the  city,  he  sought  for  an  opportunity  to  make 
a  home  in  the  country,  moved  to  Peekskill,  which  was  then 
thought  to  have  a  great  future,  established  a  small  hat 
factory,  and  opened  a  country  store.  Customers  came  from 
the  surrounding  country  and  for  a  time  he  prospered.  An 
earnest  Methodist,  he  built  a  church  and  invited  all  traveling 

33 


34  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

Methodist  ministers  to  make  his  home  their  stopping  place. 
The  resources  of  the  family  were  taxed  to  the  utmost  to 
care  for  the  numerous  visitors. 

Money  being  scarce,  few  of  the  customers  of  the  store 
or  factory  were  able  to  pay  in  cash,  so  the  good-hearted  but 
improvident  Mr.  Cooper  trusted  the  farmers,  and  his  little 
fortune  dwindled  away  in  spite  of  hard  work  on  the  part  of 
every  member  of  the  family.  Little  Peter  was  put  at  work 
in  the  factory  pulling  the  hair  out  of  rabbit  skins  before  he 
was  eight  years  old.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  long  life 
of  ceaseless  labor,  lightened  by  less  than  a  year  at  school, 
all  told.  But  many  boys  of  his  time  who  afterwards  became 
successful  men  saw  very  little  of  schools. 

Hoping  to  better  the  fortunes  of  the  family,  John  Cooper 
began  the  brewing  of  ale.  Peter  delivered  the  full  kegs 
and  brought  back  the  empty  ones.  This  business,  like 
the  other,  proving  unsuccessful,  the  family  moved  through 
what  was  then  almost  a  wilderness  to  Catskill,  where  Mr. 
Cooper  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  brick,  at  which  Peter 
as  usual  worked  early  and  late. 

But  it  seemed  that  nobody  wanted  brick.  Hard  work 
could  not  insure  success  to  a  hopeless  enterprise.  The  fam 
ily  grew  steadily  poorer.  Finally  their  debts  were  paid  by 
Peter's  grandmother,  and  the  family  moved  to  Brooklyn, 
then  a  little  village  of  two  thousand  inhabitants,  where  they 
again  undertook  the  business  of  brewing  and  again  made 
a  failure  of  it.  The  family  moved  once  more,  this  time  to 
Newburg,  and  for  the  third  time  entered  the  brewing  busi 
ness.  This  time  it  was  a  partial  success,  owing  to  the  hard 
work  and  good  management  of  Peter,  who  was  now  old 
enough  to  help  in  directing  the  business. 


PETER  COOPER  35 

Peter  was  now  sixteen  years  old.  From  his  earliest  recol 
lection  his  life  had  been  a  hard  and  at  times  almost  hope 
less  struggle.  He  had  been  at  school  but  little.  He  had 
never  had  a  real  holiday.  But  the  experience  which  would 
have  crushed  some  was  the  training  which  led  to  his  final 
success,  for  it  gave  him  fixed  habits  of  industry,  economy, 
and  perseverance. 

Peter  was  always  of  an  inventive  turn  of  mind.  He  made 
a  sort  of  washing  machine  for  use  in  his  own  home.  This 
was  probably  his  first  invention.  He  took  an  old  shoe  apart 
to  see  how  it  was  put  together,  and  after  that  made  the  fam 
ily  shoes  and  slippers,  which  were  said  to  be  as  good  as 
those  in  common  use.  Once  he  made  a  toy  wagon  and  sold 
it  for  six  dollars.  In  various  ways  he  managed  to  save  four 
dollars  more.  Ten  dollars  seemed  to  him  an  immense  sum 
and  he  was  at  a  loss  to  know  what  to  do  with  it.  Finally 
upon  the  advice  of  a  relative  he  bought  lottery  tickets.  They 
drew  blanks,  a  result  which  he  afterwards  declared  to  be 
the  most  fortunate  event  of  his  life,  as  it  kept  him  forever 
after  from  trying  to  make  money  through  chance. 

After  this  simple  life  of  toil  and  hardship,  Peter  Cooper 
went  to  New  York  at  seventeen  years  of  age  as  apprentice 
to  John  Woodward,  a  carriage  builder.  He  received  twenty- 
five  dollars  a  year  and  his  board.  On  this  he  not  only  lived 
but  even  saved  some  money.  He  was  at  this  time  igno 
rant,  uncouth,  and  awkward,  but  he  was  a  thoughtful  lad 
and  had  many  shrewd  ideas.  Even  at  this  early  day  he 
decided  that  the  American  people  were  willing  to  pay  a  high 
price  for  an  extra  quality  of  goods. 

While  learning  his  trade  Peter  took  up  ornamental  wood 
carving,  and  earned  some  extra  money  by  working  at  it  out 


36  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

of  business  hours.  He  also  made  several  inventions,  one 
of  them  of  considerable  value.  This  was  a  machine  for 
mortising  hubs,  —  a  work  which  till  then  had  been  done  by 
hand.  His  prudence  and  economy  pleased  Mr.  Woodward 
so  much  that,  when  Peter  was  twenty-one,  he  said  to  him  : 
"Peter,  you  have  done  good  work  for  me.  I  will  build  you 
a  shop  and  set  you  up  in  business  for  yourself.  You  may 
pay  me  when  you  can."  This  was  highly  complimentary 
and  a  very  tempting  offer,  but  Peter's  boyhood  experience 
had  given  him  a  horror  of  debt,  so  he  declined  it. 

At  the  close  of  his  apprenticeship  he  went  to  Hempstead 
to  visit  a  brother,  and  while  there  secured  employment  in 
a  factory  for  making  machines  for  shearing  cloth.  He 
received  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  day,  which  was  very  high 
wages  for  that  time.  At  the  end  of  three  years  he  had 
saved  enough  money  to  enable  him  to  purchase  the  right 
to  make  and  use,  in  the  state  of  New  York,  a  patented 
machine  for  shearing  cloth.  He  sold  the  first  county  right 
for  these  machines  for  five  hundred  dollars  to  Mr.  Vassar  of 
Poughkeepsie,  the  founder  of  Vassar  College.  In  later  years 
Mr.  Cooper  liked  to  tell  how  elated  he  was  over  this  sale. 

On  his  return  from  Poughkeepsie  he  stopped  at  Newburg 
to  visit  his  parents.  He  found  the  family  in  great  distress. 
His  father  had  become  involved  in  financial  difficulties  and 
was  about  to  be  sold  out  of  house  and  home.  Peter  met 
the  most  pressing  debts  and  became  responsible  for  the 
others,  which  he  finally  had  to  pay. 

About  the  time  that  he  began  the  manufacture  and  sale 
of  the  cloth-shearing  machines  he  married  Miss  Bedell,  a 
lady  of  Huguenot  descent.  No  act  of  Mr.  Cooper's  long 
and  prosperous  life  proved  more  fortunate  than  this.  She 


PETER  COOPER  37 

was  an  excellent  wife  and  mother,  and  for  the  fifty-six 
years  that  they  lived  together  fulfilled  all  the  duties  of  life 
in  the  most  exemplary  manner. 

Many  improvements  in  the  cloth-shearing  machine  were 
made  by  its  inventor,  and  the  venture  proved  a  very  profit 
able  one.  The  War  of  1812,  which  stopped  all  commerce 
with  England,  greatly  increased  the  manufacture  of  woolen 
goods  in  this  country  and  so  made  a  large  sale  for  this 
machine.  When  at  the  close  of  the  war  the  demand 
ceased,  Mr.  Cooper  had  accumulated  sufficient  means  to 
enable  him  to  go  into  other  business. 

Peter  Cooper's  payment  of  his  father's  debts  was  charac 
teristic  of  the  man.  He  had  the  highest  sense  of  honor. 
In  his  old  age  he  boasted  that  during  a  business  career 
of  more  than  sixty  years  there  was  never  a  month  nor 
a  week  when  every  man  working  for  him  did  not  get  his 
pay,  though  at  times  he  had  as  many  as  twenty-five  hundred 
in  his  employ.  When  it  is  remembered  that  during  this  long 
period  there  were  several  remarkable  financial  panics,  — 
times  when  nearly  every  bank  in  the  country  suspended  pay 
ment,  —  Mr.  Cooper's  financial  integrity  will  be  understood. 

When  the  demand  for  cloth-shearing  machines  ceased, 
Mr.  Cooper  began  the  manufacture  of  cabinet  ware  and 
furniture.  He  soon  sold  this  business  and  bought  a  twenty 
years'  lease  of  two  houses  and  six  lots  in  New  York  where 
the  Bible  House  now  stands.  Here  he  built  four  large 
wooden  dwelling  houses.  Imagine  wooden  dwellings  in 
that  place  now  !  He  was  successfully  engaged  in  the  gro 
cery  business  for  the  next  three  years,  but  this  was  not  the 
business  for  which  he  was  best  fitted.  Long  before  he  had 
held  that  the  American  people  were  willing  to  pay  high 


38  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

prices  for  excellent  goods.  He  saw  that  this  country  did 
not  make  the  best  quality  of  goods.  No  satisfactory  glue 
was  made  by  Americans.  He  bought  a  twenty-one  years' 
lease  of  a  tract  of  land  on  what  is  now  the  section  from 
Thirty-First  to  Thirty-Fourth  streets  but  which  was  then 
far  out  of  town  on  the  old  "Middle  Road."  Here  he  began 
the  manufacture  of  glue,  oil,  whiting,  prepared  chalk,  and 
isinglass.  His  factory  stood  where  Park  Avenue  Hotel  now 
stands.  Through  the  excellence  and  cheapness  of  his  prod 
uct  he  soon  controlled  practically  the  whole  trade  of  the 
country  in  glue  and  isinglass.  His  success  was  due  not  only 
to  his  inventive  skill  but  also  to  his  energy  and  industry. 

For  years  he  carried  on  his  work  without  bookkeeper, 
agent,  or  salesman.  He  was  at  his  factory  at  daylight  to 
start  the  fires  and  prepare  for  the  day's  work.  He  went 
about  with  a  team  to  gather  the  hoofs  of  slaughtered  cattle. 
At  noon  he  drove  into  the  city  to  make  necessary  pur 
chases.  All  his  evenings  were  spent  at  home,  where  he 
found  time  to  keep  his  books,  answer  correspondents,  and 
study  new  inventions.  In  course  of  time  the  business  grew 
to  be  so  extensive  and  complicated  that  one  man  could  no 
longer  attend  to  it,  and  he  associated  with  him  his  son 
Edward  and  his  son-in-law,  Abram  S.  Hewitt. 

When  his  lease  of  the  New  York  property  expired  the 
business  had  so  grown  that  a  much  larger  plant  was  neces 
sary.  Ten  acres  of  land  were  bought  in  Brooklyn,  on  Mas- 
pet  h  Avenue,  where  the  business  is  still  carried  on. 

Mr.  Cooper  was  too  versatile  and  too  energetic  a  man  to 
confine  his  thoughts  and  energies  to  a  single  subject.  For 
several  years  he  had  studied  the  iron  industry  of  the  coun 
try,  and  thought  that  he  saw  how  it  could  be  wonderfully 


PETER- COOPER  39 

improved.  In  1828  he  bought  three  thousand  acres  of  land 
within  the  city  limits  of  Baltimore,  on  which  he  erected  the 
Canton  Iron  Works.  This  was  the  first  great  enterprise  of 
the  kind  in  our  country.  At  this  time  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  was  in  process  of  construction.  There  were 
many  difficulties  to  be  overcome,  the  chief  ones  being  heavy 
grades  and  sharp  curves.  Mr.  Cooper's  venture  could  not 
be  a  success  if  the  road  should  be  a  failure.  The  English 
engineer  Stephenson  had  said  that  locomotives  could  not  be 
run  on  curves  of  a  radius  of  less  than  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  feet,  but  on  this  road  was  a  curve  with  a  radius  of  only 
one  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Mr.  Cooper  did  not  believe  that 
the  limit  of  invention  had  been  reached.  He  planned  and 
built  a  locomotive,  the  first  in  America  which  would  make 
the  required  curve,  thus  saving  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  road 
from  bankruptcy  and  himself  from  great  loss. 

A  few  years  later  Mr.  Cooper  sold  the  Canton  Iron 
Works  at  a  great  advance  on  their  cost,  and  took  his  pay 
in  stock  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  road  at  $45  a  share, 
the  par  value  being  $100.  Some  years  later  he  sold  his 
stock  for  $230  a  share.  Nearly  everything  that  Mr.  Cooper 
undertook  prospered,  not  because  he  was  fortunate  but 
because  he  studied  conditions  long  and  carefully  before 
going  into  an  undertaking.  After  selling  his  Canton  prop 
erty  Mr.  Cooper  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  iron  in 
New  York,  and  succeeded  in  using  anthracite  coal  in  pud 
dling  iron.  He  also  manufactured  wire  in  Trenton,  New 
Jersey,  and  operated  at  Philipsburg,  Pennsylvania,  the 
largest  blast  furnaces  then  in  existence.  In  order  to  con 
trol  the  manufacture  he  bought  the  Andover  iron  mines 
and  built  a  railroad  eight  miles  long  to  bring  the  ore  to 


4o  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

the  furnaces.  The  whole  plant  was  afterwards  known  as  the 
Ironton  Iron  Works.  It  was  here  that  the  first  wrought-iron 
beams  for  fireproof  buildings  were  made. 

Mr.  Cooper  was  Mr.  Field's  ablest  helper  in  building 
the  Atlantic  cable.  When  others  became  discouraged  and 
advised  abandoning  the  enterprise,  he  never  lost  heart. 
For  twenty  years  he  was  president  of  the  New  York,  New 
foundland  and  London  Telegraph  Company,  and  to  him,  as 
much  as  to  any  one  man,  is  due  the  success  of  the  Atlantic 
cable.  Although  the  first  one  ceased  to  work  after  four  or 
five  hundred  messages  had  been  sent,  and  the  second  was 
lost  when  nearly  laid,  Mr.  Cooper's  courage  did  not  fail 
him.  He  saw  that  the  work  of  the  first  cable  had  dem 
onstrated  the  practicability  of  the  scheme  and  that  success 
depended  only  upon  working  out  details. 

Mr.  Cooper  was  always  deeply  interested  in  public  affairs, 
particularly  in  the  affairs  of  his  own  city.  He  served  one 
year  as  alderman  and  three  years  as  assistant  alderman. 
He  was  instrumental  in  getting  paid  fire  and  police  depart 
ments,  a  good  water  supply,  and  free  schools.  In  the  latter 
he  took  a  great  and  lasting  interest.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  first  board  of  commissioners  of  public  schools. 

He  was  an  enthusiastic  supporter  of  the  war  for  the 
Union,  being  the  first  man  to  pay  money  towards  a  war 
loan.  Being  too  old  to  serve  himself,  he  sent  about  twenty 
substitutes. 

He  believed  that  the  general  government  should  issue 
paper  money  exclusively,  and  holding  these  views,  con 
sented  to  become  the  candidate  of  the  Greenback  party  for 
the  Presidency. 


Cooper  Union 


42  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

COOPER  UNION 

Mr.  Cooper's  experience  as  a  struggling  apprentice  had 
shown  him  the  needs  and  the  limitations  of  apprentices. 
No  doubt  it  was  his  interest  in  this  class  that  led  to  the 
establishment  of  Cooper  Union.  He  wished  to  help  those 
apprentices  who  tried  to  help  themselves.  He  also  wished 
to  provide  innocent  and  instructive  amusements  to  take  the 
place  of  those  that  were  coarse  or  vicious.  In  1854  he 
began  the  erection  of  a  six-story,  fireproof  building.  Fully 
completed  and  equipped  it  cost  Mr.  Cooper,  with  the  land 
it  occupied,  more  than  $900,000. 

Cooper  Union  was  established  for  the  advancement  of 
science  and  art.  At  an  annual  meeting  of  the  trustees 
Mr.  Cooper  said  : 

Feeling,  as  I  always  have,  my  own  want  of  education,  and  more 
especially  my  own  want  of  scientific  knowledge,  as  applicable  to  the 
various  callings  in  which  I  have  been  engaged,  it  was  this  want  of  my 
own,  which  I  felt  so  keenly,  that  led  me,  in  deep  sympathy  for  those 
who  I  knew  would  be  subject  to  the  same  wants  and  inconveniences 
that  I  had  encountered  —  it  was  this  feeling  which  led  me  to  provide 
an  institution  where  a  course  of  instruction  would  be  open  and  free  to 
all  who  felt  a  want  of  scientific  knowledge,  as  applicable  to  any  of  the 
useful  purposes  of  life. 

Having  started  in  life  with  naked  hands  and  an  honest  purpose,  I 
persevered  through  long  years  of  trial  and  effort  to  obtain  the  means 
to  erect  this  building,  which  is  now  entirely  devoted,  with  all  its  rents 
and  revenue,  of  every  name  and  nature,  to  the  advancement  of  science 
and  art.  Believing,  as  I  do,  that  science  is  a  rule  or  law  of  God  by 
which  the  movements  of  the  material  creation  are  rendered  intelligible 
to  man  ;  that  science  itself  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  knowledge 
of  this  law  or  rule  actually  demonstrated  by  the  experience  of  man 
kind  ;  believing  this,  I  have  given  the  labors  of  a  long  life  to  the 


PETER  COOPER  43 

advancement  and  diffusion  of  scientific  knowledge,  feeling  assured 
that  when  Christianity  itself  is  felt  in  all  its  purity,  power,  and  force, 
when  it  is  relieved  of  all  its  creeds  and  systems  of  human  device,  it 
will  then  be  found  to  be  a  simple  system  —  a  science  or  rule  of  life 
to  guide  and  regulate  the  action  of  mankind. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  value  of  Cooper  Union  ;  this 
great  institution  with  its  lecture  hall,  where  instruction  on 
a  great  variety  of  subjects  is  absolutely  free,  its  library, 
its  reading  room,  its  day  and  evening  classes  in  engineer 
ing,  chemistry,  natural  philosophy,  photography,  telegraphy, 
wood  engraving,  painting,  and  many  other  subjects.  It  is 
impossible  to  tell  how  many  have  here  had  their  first  inspi 
ration  in  life,  and  how  far  reaching  have  been  the  conse 
quences. 

The  reception  of  the  news  of  Mr.  Cooper's  death  showed 
what  the  world  thinks  of  a  good  and  unselfish  man.  People 
of  all  classes  mourned  his  death.  Ministers  of  all  creeds 
praised  him.  Thousands  paid  personal  respect  to  his  mem 
ory.  Courts,  city  councils,  and  legislatures  adjourned,  and 
business  houses  were  closed  on  the  day  of  his  funeral. 
Three  thousand  five  hundred  students  of  Cooper  Union 
dropped  flowers  on  his  coffin. 

The  life  of  such  a  man  as  Peter  Cooper  is  inspiring. 
Contrast  the  life  of  a  man  who  strives  with  untiring  indus 
try  to  accumulate  a  fortune  to  be  used  in  doing  good  to  his 
fellow-men  with  the  life  of  one  who  accumulates  a  fortune  by 
questionable  means  for  selfish  purposes  and  with  nothing 
else  in  mind.  Mr.  Cooper  will  long  be  remembered.  His 
good  work  will  continue  indefinitely.  In  no  fair  sense  can 
he  be  said  to  be  dead. 

'T  is  ever  wrong  to  say  a  good  man  dies. 


Mary  Lyon 


44 


MARY    LYON 

1797-1849 

ON  the  28th  of  February,  1797,  in  the  little  town  of 
Buckland,  amid  the  mountains  of  western  Massachusetts, 
was  born  one  who  was,  all  things  considered,  perhaps  the 
most  remarkable  woman  our  country  has  produced.  To 
Mary  Lyon  is  due  far  greater  honor  than  has  yet  been 
accorded  her. 

She  was  the  fifth  of  seven  children,  only  one  of  whom 
was  a  boy.  They  lived  in  a  little  one-story  farmhouse. 
The  father,  Aaron  Lyon,  a  good  and  earnest  man,  beloved 
by  all  his  neighbors,  struggled  to  win  from  a  sterile  Massa 
chusetts  farm  support  for  a  numerous  family.  He  died  at 
the  age  of  forty-five,  leaving  his  family  well-nigh  helpless. 
Mary  was  then  not  quite  six  years  old. 

The  mother  was  a  remarkable  woman.  She  carried  on  the 
farm,  supported  the  children,  and  kept  the  family  together. 
Though  she  worked  early  and  late  she  was  always  cheer 
ful.  There  was  no  money  for  candy  or  toys  for  her  little 
ones,  but  they  always  had  a  beautiful  flower  garden,  which 
Mrs.  Lyon  said  cost  only  a  little  extra  work,  and  there  was 
fruit  in  abundance.  In  after  years  Mary  said,  "  No  such 
strawberries  ever  grew  anywhere  else,  never  such  rareripes, 
so  large  and  so  yellow,  and  never  were  peaches  so  delicious 
and  so  fair  as  grew  on  that  favored  farm." 

45 


46  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

One  by  one  Mary's  sisters  married  and  left  home.  When 
Mary  was  fourteen  her  mother  married  again  and  moved  to 
the  state  of  New  York,  taking  the  two  youngest  girls  with 
her.  Mary  remained  and  kept  house  for  her  brother,  who 
was  then  twenty-three  years  of  age.  Later  her  brother 
married,  but  she  made  her  home  with  him  until  she  was 
twenty-one,  when  he  moved  to  New  York  and  the  beloved 
home  was  given  up. 

Mary  Lyon's  opportunities  for  gaining  an  education  were 
very  limited.  In  her  early  days  she  had  but  little  schooling. 
While  she  was  her  brother's  housekeeper  she  received  a 
dollar  a  week  for  her  services.  She  used  this  money  in 
buying  books  and  preparing  for  more  advanced  education. 
She  also  earned,  by  spinning  and  weaving  for  the  neighbors, 
some  additional  money,  which  was  saved  for  the  time  when 
she  could  attend  school. 

There  was  little  in  her  surroundings  that  tended  to  stim 
ulate  the  young  girl.  No  one  in  her  town  had  ever  been 
distinguished  for  education  or  for  any  accomplishment.  It 
would  not  have  been  strange  had  she  led  the  life  of  those 
around  her.  But  she  early  showed  that  she  possessed  ex 
traordinary  ability.  She  had  a  quick  mind  and  a  memory 
that  was  phenomenal.  In  four  days  she  learned  what  other 
pupils  took  a  term  to  master.  She  committed  the  rules  of 
Adams's  Latin  Grammar  in  three  days.  She  made  similar 
progress  in  arithmetic.  She  was  fond  of  school  and  in  love 
with  learning,  but  the  poverty  of  the  family  was  so  great  that 
but  little  of  her  time  could  be  spared  for  study.  The  greater 
part  of  her  day  was  spent  in  sewing,  knitting,  and  spinning. 

When  her  brother  married  she  was  free  to  give  her  time 
wholly  to  securing  the  desired  education.  She  taught  for 


MARY  LYON  47 

a  while  for  seventy-five  cents  a  week  and  saved  all  the 
money.  She  also  worked  during  her  spare  hours  at  sewing, 
spinning,  and  weaving.  A  friend  said  of  her,  "  She  is  all 
intellect  and  does  not  know  that  she  has  a  body  to  care  for." 

When  she  was  twenty  years  old  she  had  saved  enough 
money  to  enable  her  to  enter  Sanderson  Academy  at  Ash- 
field.  This  was  the  first  good  school  she  had  ever  attended. 
At  the  end  of  one  term  her  money  was  all  gone,  but  her 
work  had  been  so  remarkable  that  the  trustees  offered  her 
free  tuition  for  another  term.  She  was  by  far  the  best 
scholar  in  the  school.  One  of  her  teachers  said,  "  I  should 
like  to  see  what  she  would  make  if  she  could  be  sent  to 
college."  But  in  those  days  there  was  not  a  college  in  all 
this  broad  land  of  ours  that  would  open  its  doors  to  a  woman. 
She  left  this  school  to  engage  in  teaching,  which  she  expected 
to  make  her  life  work.  She  was  known  as  the  most  gifted 
pupil  who  had  ever  attended  the  academy.  Between  terms 
she  studied,  giving  especial  attention  to  one  subject  at  a 
time.  She  spent  some  time  studying  science  in  the  family 
of  the  Reverend  Edward  Hitchcock,  afterwards  president  of 
Amherst  College.  She  also  devoted  some  time  to  drawing, 
painting,  penmanship,  and  other  subjects. 

At  twenty-four  years  of  age,  having  saved  some  money, 
she  attended  a  school  at  Byfield,  kept  by  the  Reverend  Joseph 
Emerson.  Immediately  after  completing  her  year  at  Byfield 
she  was  appointed  an  assistant  teacher  at  Sanderson  Acad 
emy,  where  she  had  once  been  a  pupil.  This  was  remark 
able,  because  no  woman  had  ever  before  held  the  position. 

A  little  later,  Miss  Grant,  one  of  the  teachers  at  Byfield, 
started  a  school  at  Derry,  New  Hampshire,  and  chose  Miss 
Lyon  as  her  assistant.  She  was  very  happy  in  her  work 


48  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

there,  but  as  the  sessions  were  held  in  the  summer  only, 
she  opened  a  school  in  her  native  town  of  Buckland.  She 
had  twenty-five  pupils  the  first  term,  and  ninety  the  last. 
A  building  was  erected  for  the  school.  The  pupils  were 
boarded  for  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  a  week,  and  Miss  Lyon 
charged  twenty-five  cents  a  week  for  tuition.  In  this  way 
people  of  little  means  were  enabled  to  secure  an  education. 
She  was  asked  to  locate  there  permanently,  and  might 
have  done  so  had  not  Miss  Grant,  who  had  had  the  sum 
mer  school  at  Derry,  opened  a  school  at  Ipswich,  Massa 
chusetts,  and  invited  Miss  Lyon  to  become  her  assistant. 
For  six  years  they  had  a  large  and  successful  school. 
Miss  Lyon  proved  to  be  a  popular  and  stimulating  teacher. 
She  would  often  say : 

Young  ladies,  you  are  here  at  great  expense.  Your  board  and 
tuition  cost  a  great  deal,  and  your  time  ought  to  be  worth  more  than 
both  ;  but  in  order  to  get  an  equivalent  for  the  money  you  are  spend 
ing,  you  must  be  systematic,  and  that  is  impossible  unless  you  have  a 
regular  hour  for  rising.  .  .  .  Persons  who  run  around  all  day  for  the 
half  hour  they  have  lost  in  the  morning  never  accomplish  much.  You 
may  know  them  by  the  rip  in  the  glove,  a  string  pinned  to  the  bonnet, 
a  shawl  left  on  the  balustrade,  which  they  had  no  time  to  hang  up, 
they  were  in  such  a  hurry  to  catch  their  lost  thirty  minutes.  You  will 
see  them  opening  their  books  and  trying  to  study  at  the  time  of  general 
exercises  in  school,  but  it  is  a  fruitless  race,  they  will  never  overtake 
their  lost  half  hour. 

MOUNT    HOLYOKE 

It  was  while  teaching  at  Ipswich  that  Miss  Lyon  formed 
the  idea  of  establishing  a  school  for  the  higher  education  of 
women.  There  was  a  prejudice  against  schools  for  girls. 
Many  prominent  people  thought  it  wrong  for  girls  to  have 


MARY  LYON  49 

the  same  advantages  in  education  as  boys.  Very  few  sym 
pathized  with  Miss  Lyon  in  her  views  regarding  higher 
education  for  women.  She  was  told  that  girls  would  never 
become  lawyers,  or  doctors,  or  ministers,  and  that  there 
fore  they  had  no  need  of  a  higher  education.  She  was 
asked  if  she  thought  women  would  be  better  housekeepers, 
or  wives,  or  mothers,  if  they  were  liberally  educated.  In 
vain  she  talked  with  college  presidents  and  learned  minis 
ters.  Nearly  all  of  them  were  without  interest  in  the  mat 
ter.  But  Mary  Lyon  was  not  one  to  become  discouraged 
by  opposition.  She  tried,  but  without  success,  to  have  the 
school  at  Ipswich  endowed.  For  two  years  she  thought 
and  prayed  over  the  matter. 

She  had  the  greatest  sympathy  for  poor  girls,  and  she 
wished  for  "  a  seminary  which  should  be  so  moderate  in  its 
expenses  as  to  be  open  to  the  daughters  of  farmers  and 
artisans,  and  to  teachers  who  might  be  mainly  dependent 
for  their  support  on  their  own  exertions."  She  said  that 
a  school  should  be  established  in  which  the  cost  of  tuition, 
room,  board,  lights,  fuel,  and  washing  should  not  exceed 
sixty  dollars  a  year. 

When  about  thirty  years  of  age  she  received  an  offer  of 
marriage  that  would  mean  for  her  a  happy  life.  She  said, 
"  If  I  take  the  husband,  I  cannot  have  the  seminary."  She 
did  not  hesitate  in  her  choice,  and  it  is  well  for  our  country 
that  she  thought  the  seminary  of  the  greater  importance. 
Had  she  married,  it  is  probable  that  higher  education  for 
women  would  have  been  delayed  for  a  generation.  Certainly 
there  would  have  been  no  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary,  and 
the  inestimable  good  which  that  institution  has  done  would 
have  been  lost. 


50  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

Only  here  and  there  a  person  whom  Mary  Lyon  con 
sulted  believed  it  wise  to  establish  such  a  school  as  she 
had  in  mind.  The  more  opposition  she  met  with,  the  more 
determined  she  became.  To  a  friend  she  wrote  : 

During  the  past  year  my  heart  has  so  yearned  over  the  adult 
female  youth  in  the  common  walks  of  life  that  it  has  sometimes 
seemed  as  though  a  fire  were  shut  up  in  my  bones. 

She  resigned  her  position  at  Ipswich  and  went  from  house 
to  house  collecting  funds  for  the  new  school.  Women  gave 
the  first  thousand  dollars.  In  spite  of  indifference,  opposi 
tion,  and  ignorance,  the  necessary  funds  were  finally  raised, 
and  on  the  3d  of  October,  1836,  the  corner  stone  of  the 
building  was  laid.  Miss  Lyon  wrote: 

It  was  a  day  of  deep  interest.  The  stones  and  brick  and  mortar 
speak  a  language  which  vibrates  through  my  very  soul.  Had  I  a 
thousand  lives  I  could  sacrifice  them  all  in  suffering  and  hardship  for 
the  sake  of  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary.  Did  I  possess  the  greatest 
fortune,  I  could  readily  relinquish  it  all,  and  become  poor,  and  more 
than  poor,  if  its  prosperity  should  demand  it. 

Miss  Lyon  said  that  her  salary  should  never  be  more 
than  two  hundred  dollars  a  year  with  board,  and  no  assistant 
could  expect  more  than  she  received.  She  said  that  the 
girls,  whether  rich  or  poor,  must  do  their  part  of  the  house 
work.  Her  ideas  were  ridiculed.  People  said  that  teachers 
could  not  be  had  for  such  salaries,  and  that  girls  would  not 
go  to  school  and  do  housework.  The  history  of  Mount 
Holyoke  is  the  answer  to  these  criticisms. 

The  school  was  opened  in  the  fall  of  1837.  The  grounds 
and  buildings  had  cost  about  $70,000.  While  there  were 
accommodations  for  only  about  eighty-five  students,  more 


MARY  LYON 


than  three  hundred  applied  for  admission,  and  one  hundred 
and  sixteen  were  present  at  the  opening.  Three  years  later 
the  buildings  were  sufficiently  enlarged  to  accommodate  two 
hundred  and  fifty  students. 

Students  came  not  from  Massachusetts  alone  but  from 
nearly  every  state  in  the  Union  and  from  several  foreign 
countries.  While 
Miss  Lyon  had 
in  mind  the 
young  women 
who  were  unable 
to  attend  expen 
sive  schools,  and 
for  that  reason 
the  expense  was 
limited  to  one 
dollar  and  a 
quarter  a  week, 
from  the  outset 
there  were  many 
girls  from 
wealthy  families, 


Mary  Lyon  Hall 


and  pupils  left  other  popular  and  fashionable  schools  to 
attend  Mount  Holyoke.  The  intellectual  tone  and  moral 
standing  of  the  school  were  unexcelled. 

Miss  Lyon  died  March  5,  1849,  having  contracted  a  con 
tagious  disease  which  broke  out  in  the  school  a  month 
before.  The  mourning  caused  by  her  death  was  wide 
spread.  All  her  pupils  were  her  friends,  and  they  were  to 
be  found  in  every  state  in  the  Union  and  in  many  foreign 
lands. 


52  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

Few  have  done  so  much  for  others  as  did  Mary  Lyon, 
and  still  fewer  have  started  movements  that  continue  to 
grow  and  increase  in  usefulness.  Her  work  has  gone 
steadily  on.  The  school  has  grown  from  year  to  year. 
Nearly  half  a  million  dollars  is  now  invested  in  the  institu 
tion.  More  than  seven  thousand  students  have  been  edu 
cated  there,  and  nearly  three  fourths  of  them  have  become 
teachers  or  missionaries. 

Mary  Lyon  is  dead,  but  who  can  say  when  her  influence 
will  cease  ?  Every  American  girl  who  has  received  or  is 
receiving  a  higher  education  owes  her  a  debt  of  gratitude 
which  can  never  be  paid  but  which  may  be  recognized  by 
"lending  a  hand  "  in  forwarding  the  work  which  she  began. 

The  work  of  Mary  Lyon  will  be  very  inadequately 
measured  if  one  considers  merely  her  life  work  and  the 
influence  of  Mount  Holyoke,  great  as  both  of  these  are. 
The  record  of  her  life  will  ever  stand  as  an  inspiration  for 
every  ambitious  American  girl,  and  thousands  will  live 
higher,  nobler,  and  more  useful  lives  because  of  hers. 
That  influence  will  never  cease. 

Few  girls  begin  life  under  more  unfavorable  circum 
stances  or  have  to  surmount  more  formidable  obstacles 
than  did  Mary  Lyon.  What  girl  would  not  think  her  life 
a  grand  success  were  she  able  to  accomplish  even  a  hun 
dredth  part  as  much  good  as  did  Miss  Lyon  ? 

She  gave  her  life  for  others,  that  those  others  might 
know  and  have  fuller,  sweeter,  and  richer  lives.  The  gift 
was  not  in  vain.  She  aroused  and  inspired  thousands  in 
her  lifetime,  and  they  in  turn  touched  others  ;  so  that  we 
now  have  not  only  Mount  Holyoke  College  but  scores  of 
similar  institutions,  all  doing  a  grand  work;  and  this  has 


MARY   LYON  53 

come  about  sooner  and  the  work  is  being  better  done  because 
Mary  Lyon  lived,  and  lived  the  life  she  did. 

Mary  Lyon,  Catherine  Beecher,  and  Emma  Willard  are 
great  names  in  the  educational  history  of  our  country,  but 
that  of  Mary  Lyon  is  easily  first. 

One  of  the  few  immortal  names 
That  were  not  born  to  die. 


Horace  Greeley 


54 


HORACE  GREELEY 

1811-1872 

HORACE  GREELEY,  the  third  of  seven  children,  was  born 
on  a  farm  near  Amherst,  New  Hampshire,  February  3, 
1811.  His  father,  Zaccheus  Greeley,  was  of  Scotch-Irish 
lineage,  the  stock  from  which  so  many  successful  Americans 
have  sprung ;  while  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Woodburn,  was  a  woman  of  uncommon  energy.  She  not 
only  cared  for  the  family  but  also  worked  in  the  garden, 
and  on  occasion  in  the  field ;  it  was  even  said  of  her  that 
she  could  rake  more  hay  than  any  man  in  the  community. 

Mrs.  Greeley  had  a  liking  for  books,  and  in  the  long  even 
ings  she  would  read  aloud  or  tell  stories  or  sing  to  her 
children.  From  her  Horace  inherited  his  love  of  study. 
He  says  that  she  was  his  first  teacher,  and  that  the  stories 
she  told  awakened  in  him  a  thirst  for  knowledge  and  a 
great  interest  in  history.  He  did  not  remember  the  time 
when  he  could  not  read.  His  love  for  learning  was  instinc 
tive,  and  at  two  years  of  age  he  would  pore  over  the  Bible 
and  ask  questions  about  the  letters.  He  could  read  any 
child's  book  at  three  years  of  age,  and  any  book  at  four. 

He  never  attended  other  than  a  public  school,  and  that 
no  great  length  of  time.  He  received  the  greater  part  of 
his  schooling  in  a  small  one-story  building  containing  one 
room,  with  two  windows,  a  door  at  one  end  and  a  great 

55 


56  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

fireplace  at  the  other.  Along  the  sides  of  the  room  were 
a  slanting  shelf  that  served  as  a  desk,  and  seats  made  of 
"slabs"  supported  by  sticks  set  in  auger  holes.  These 
seats  had  no  backs.  The  girls  sat  on  one  side  of  the  room 
and  the  boys  on  the  other.  The  schoolhouse  was  unpainted 
and  had  no  pictures  or  decorations.  Plain  as  it  was,  it  was 
not  unlike  most  of  the  rural  schools  of  the  time. 

The  farm  on  which  Horace  Greeley  was  born  consisted 
of  fifty  acres  of  rocky,  wet,  and  uneven  land  four  or  five 
miles  from  the  village  of  Amherst.  The  farmhouse,  half 
way  up  a  high,  steep,  rocky  hill,  was  small  and  unattractive. 
The  Greeleys'  neighbors  were  hard-working  farmers,  neither 
wealthy  nor  in  want.  It  was  a  community  of  plain  people 
with  no  ideas  of  inequality.  The  district  school  gave  them 
their  education,  the  village  paper  their  ideas  of  the  outside 
world.  They  were  orthodox  in  their  religious  views  and 
regular  in  their  attendance  at  church.  It  was  amidst  such 
surroundings  and  under  such  conditions  that  young  Gree 
ley  passed  the  first  few  years  of  his  life. 

He  began  school  at  three  years  of  age  and  soon  led  his 
class  in  reading  and  spelling,  studies  in  which  he  always 
excelled.  He  was  a  delicate  but  not  a  sickly  child,  tow- 
headed,  odd-mannered,  with  a  lisping,  whining  voice.  Then 
and  all  through  his  life  he  was  good-natured  and  not  easily 
provoked. 

There  were  some  twenty  books  in  his  father's  house,  which 
he  had  read  again  and  again  before  he  was  six  years  old. 
Among  the  number  was  "Pilgrim's  Progress."  He  had 
read  the  Bible  from  Genesis  to  Revelation.  It  is  said  that 
he  could  spell  every  word  in  the  Bible,  but  this,  no  doubt, 
is  an  exaggeration.  As  he  grew  older  he  borrowed  and 


HORACE  GREELEY 


57 


read  all  the  books  to  be  had  in  a  radius  of  seven  miles.  In 
the  daytime  he  would  lie  under  the  shade  of  a  tree  and  read 
for  hours  at  a  time,  forgetting  even  his  dinner,  noting  noth 
ing  till  darkness  came  on.  He  would  gather  pine  knots 
to  give  light  for  his  evening  reading,  and  be  so  absorbed 
that  the  neighbors  would  come  and  go,  eating  apples  and 
drinking  cider,  without  his  having  been  conscious  of  their 


Horace  Greeley's  Birthplace 

presence.  At  a  very  early  age  he  began  to  read  the  Farmer's 
Cabinet,  a  weekly  paper  published  at  Amherst,  containing 
religious,  agricultural  and  miscellaneous  selections  and  a 
few  brief  editorials. 

The  father  of  Horace  Greeley  was  no  better  financier 
than  was  his  illustrious  son  in  later  years.  Before  Horace 
was  ten  years  old  his  father  had  speculated  in  lumber  in  a 
small  way  and  become  bankrupt.  His  home  and  furniture 


58  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

were  sold  by  the  sheriff,  and  he  was  obliged  to  leave  the 
state  to  escape  arrest.  Some  of  the  debts  that  were  not 
settled  then  were  paid  by  the  son  thirty  years  later. 

A  few  weeks  after  the  sale  of  their  home  the  Greeleys 
moved  to  Rutland  County,  Vermont.  The  whole  family 
and  all  the  household  goods  that  the  law  had  left  them 
were  carried  in  one  sleigh  load.  They  were  very  poor,  so 
poor  that  the  children  ate  their  porridge  together  from  a 
single  tin  pan,  sitting  on  the  floor  as  they  ate.  In  spite  of 
their  poverty  they  were  happy,  and  worked  hard  and  saved 
some  money.  They  lived  in  the  cheapest  possible  way. 
It  is  said  that  in  the  summer  Horace  wore  only  three 
articles  of  apparel,  —  a  straw  hat,  usually  in  bad  condition, 
a  tow  shirt,  never  buttoned,  and  a  pair  of  linsey-woolsey 
trousers  short  in  the  legs,  with  one  leg  always  shorter 
than  the  other.  Possibly  it  was  this  life  that  led  to  Mr. 
Greeley's  indifference  in  the  matter  of  dress  in  later  years. 

GREELEY'S  APPRENTICESHIP 

When  only  five  or  six  years  old  Greeley  had  determined 
to  become  a  printer,  and  he  was  grievously  disappointed 
because  at  the  age  of  eleven  he  was  refused  a  position  on 
account  of  his  youth. 

When  he  was  fifteen  an  advertisement  appeared  in  the 
Northern  Spectator,  published  at  East  Poultney,  Vermont, 
calling  for  an  apprentice.  One  day  Mr.  Bliss,  the  manager 
of  the  paper,  heard  a  thin,  whining  voice  say,  "Are  you 
the  man  that  carries  on  the  printing  office  ?  " 

Mr.  Bliss  saw  before  him  a  tow-headed,  awkward,  uncouth, 
ill-clad,  large-headed  youth. 


HORACE   GREELEY  59 

"Do  you  want  a  boy  to  learn  the  trade?"  the  lad 
went  on. 

"  Do  you  want  to  learn  to  print  ? "  said  Mr.  Bliss. 

u  I  've  had  some  notion  of  it,"  was  the  reply. 

Mr.  Bliss  asked  some  questions,  among  others  what  the 
boy  had  read,  to  which  Horace  replied,  "  A  little  of  'most 
everything."  "  Further  questions,"  said  Mr.  Bliss,  "  showed 
that  he  had  a  mind  of  no  common  order,  that  he  had  acquired 
an  intelligence  far  beyond  his  years,  and  that  he  possessed 
a  degree  of  single-mindedness,  truthfulness,  and  common 
sense,  which  commanded  respect  and  regard." 

According  to  the  terms  of  apprenticeship  Horace  was  to 
work  till  he  was  twenty  years  old  and  to  receive  only  his 
board  for  the  first  half  year  and  his  board  and  forty  dollars 
a  year  for  the  remainder  of  the  time. 

There  was  a  village  library  at  East  Poultney  that  gave 
Horace  better  opportunities  for  reading  than  he  had  ever 
before  enjoyed,  and  he  afterwards  said  that  he  never  read 
with  so  much  profit.  He  joined  the  village  lyceum  and 
was  a  frequent  speaker  at  its  meetings.  His  extensive 
reading,  marvelous  memory,  and  logical  mind  made  him  an 
effective  debater.  Though  he  had  a  high-pitched  and  whin 
ing  voice,  and  possessed  none  of  the  graces  of  an  orator,  he 
was  an  interesting  and  fluent  speaker. 

People  often  made  sport  of  young  Greeley  because  of  his 
poor  clothing.  This  he  always  took  good-naturedly,  saying, 
"It  is  better  to  wear  my  old  clothes  than  to  run  into  debt 
for  new  ones."  During  the  whole  of  his  apprenticeship  he 
lived  in  the  most  economical  manner  possible,  sending  all 
his  savings  to  his  father  to  help  make  a  home  in  the  wilder 
ness  of  Pennsylvania,  west  of  the  Alleghanies.  It  is  said  that 


6o 


SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 


Horace  Greeley  did  not  have  fifty  dollars'  worth  of  clothes 
during  the  whole  time  from  his  birth  till  he  was  twenty-one 
years  of  age.  He  served  as  apprentice  for  five  years,  and  in 
that  time  he  visited  his  parents  but  twice.  Each  time  he 
walked  nearly  the  whole  distance,  about  six  hundred  miles. 


Greeley  not  only  became  the  best  printer  in  the  office, 
but  did  much  toward  editing  the  paper,  some  of  the  num 
bers  being  almost  wholly  his  work.  In  Poultney  he  was 
regarded  as  a  walking  encyclopedia,  and  well-informed  men 
referred  to  him  questions  of  history  and  politics.  He  was 


HORACE  GREELEY  6 1 

positive  in  his  convictions  and  ready  to  talk  on  any  subject. 
He  rarely  attended  church,  usually  spending  Sunday  in 
reading.  He  was  a  stanch  Universalist,  an  ardent  Whig, 
and  a  radical  anti-mason.  He  never  used  tobacco  or  alco 
holic  drinks. 

Early  in  the  fifth  year  of  his  apprenticeship  the  paper  on 
which  he  worked  was  discontinued  and  he  was  free  to  do 
what  he  chose.  He  had  but  little  clothing  and  only  twenty 
dollars  in  money ;  but  he  had  a  good  trade,  good  habits,  a 
strong,  well-trained  mind,  and  a  great  fund  of  information. 

He  first  went  to  visit  his  parents  and  spent  a  few  weeks 
with  them.  Then  he  worked  a  short  time  at  Jamestown, 
New  York,  but  was  unable  to  get  any  pay,  so  went  to  Lodi, 
where  he  worked  for  a  few  weeks  for  very  small  wages. 
After  this  he  went  to  Erie,  Pennsylvania,  and  entered  the 
office  of  the  Erie  Gazette,  receiving  twelve  dollars  a  month 
and  board.  During  the  seven  months  he  remained  here  he 
spent  only  six  dollars.  Of  the  eighty-four  dollars  earned 
during  his  seven  months  at  Erie  he  kept  fifteen  and  gave 
the  rest  to  his  father.  After  a  few  more  days  at  home 
he  went  to  New  York  in  search  of  employment.  Walking 
part  of  the  time,  and  riding  on  canal  boats  and  towboats 
when  he  could,  Greeley  reached  New  York  on  August  18, 
1831,  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

Many  men  who  have  achieved  success  in  New  York  have 
boasted  of  their  humble  beginnings,  but  it  may  be  doubted 
if  any  one  ever  began  there  under  more  unfavorable  cir 
cumstances  than  did  Horace  Greeley.  He  had  ten  dollars 
in  money,  a  few  shabby  clothes,  and  not  a  friend  or  an 
acquaintance  in  the  whole  city.  He  did  not  know  a  human 
being  within  two  hundred  miles.  Neither  his  person  nor  his 


b2  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

address  was  calculated  to  give  any  one  a  favorable  impres 
sion.  He  had  no  letters  of  recommendation,  no  certificate 
of  his  skill  as  a  printer.  In  addition  to  all  these  hindrances 
he  had  little  faculty  for  pushing  himself  and  making  his 
own  way. 

He  engaged  board  for  two  dollars  and  a  half  a  week  at 
a  combination  of  boarding  house  and  grogshop  kept  by 
one  McGolrick.  For  three  days  he  sought  employment  in 
vain.  His  money  was  almost  gone  and  he  had  resolved  to 
leave  the  city,  when  a  young  Irishman  told  him  that  printers 
were  wanted  at  John  T.  West's.  Horace  was  at  the  place 
at  half  past  five  Monday  morning,  and  sat  on  the  steps 
nearly  an  hour  and  a  half  before  the  doors  opened.  One 
of  the  first  of  the  workmen  to  come  was  a  young  Vermonter, 
who  took  an  interest  in  Greeley  because  they  came  from 
the  same  state.  He  exerted  himself  in  Greeley's  behalf  ; 
but  even  with  this  advantage  he  would  not  have  secured  a 
place  had  there  not  been  a  job  on  hand  that  no  other  printer 
would  take,  — that  of  the  composition  of  a  polyglot  Testa 
ment.  It  was  very  slow  work  and  the  best  he  was  ever 
able  to  do  by  working  from  twelve  to  fourteen  hours  a  day 
was  to  earn  from  five  to  six  dollars  a  week ;  but  after  this 
work  was  completed  he  had  several  other  jobs  at  various 
places.  His  work  in  New  York  as  a  journeyman  printer 
lasted  about  a  year  and  a  half. 

GREELEY  AS  PUBLISHER  AND  EDITOR 

Mr.  Greeley  had  made  the  necessary  preparation  for  the 
success  that  was  to  come  to  him.  He  knew  his  trade 
thoroughly.  He  had  read  extensively,  and  digested  and 


HORACE  GREELEY  63 

remembered  what  he  read.  At  the  lyceum  at  East  Poult- 
ney  he  had  had  an  excellent  drill  in  public  speaking,  and  also 
some  experience  in  writing  for  the  papers.  He  had  learned 
to  do  hard  work  easily,  and  disagreeable  work  without  annoy 
ance.  He  was  economical  and  always  good-tempered. 

During  1832  Mr.  Greeley  had  become  acquainted  with  a 
Mr.  Story,  who  was  the  foreman  in  the  office  of  the  Spirit 
of  the  Times.  He  had  also  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Dr.  Horatio  D.  Sheppard,  the  originator  of  the  idea  of  a 
penny  paper.  After  considerable  consultation  the  firm  of 
Greeley  &  Story  was  formed,  and  they  agreed  to  publish 
a  two-penny  paper  called  the  Morning  Post.  Dr.  Sheppard 
was  to  pay  them  for  their  work  at  the  end  of  each  week. 
The  enterprise  did  not  pay  and  the  paper  was  discontinued 
at  the  close  of  the  third  week,  but  its  failure  did  not  seri 
ously  interfere  with  the  young  firm.  They  were  printing 
Sylvesters  Bank  Note  Reporter  and  a  small  tri  weekly  called 
the  Constitutionalist. 

Mr.  Story  was  drowned  a  few  months  after  the  partner 
ship  was  formed  and  his  place  was  taken  by  his  brother- 
in-law,  Mr.  Winchester  ;  later  a  Mr.  Sibbett  was  taken  into 
the  firm,  which  was  now  known  as  Greeley  &  Co. 

For  a  long  time  Mr.  Greeley  had  wished  to  edit  a  paper. 
The  young  firm  had  prospered  and  was  worth  about  three 
thousand  dollars.  Its  members  believed  that  they  could 
make  a  better  family  paper  than  was  then  in  existence,  and 
acting  upon  that  belief  they  issued  the  first  number  of  the 
New  Yorker  March  22, 1834.  They  started  with  only  twelve 
subscribers,  but  sold  one  hundred  copies  of  the  first  num 
ber  and  two  hundred  of  the  second.  For  three  months 
they  gained  a  hundred  copies  a  week  in  their  circulation, 


64  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

and  at  the  end  of  the  first  year  they  had  four  thousand  five 
hundred  subscribers.  Ultimately  the  circulation  rose  to 
nine  thousand.  During  the  first  year  three  hundred  papers 
gave  the  New  Yorker  eulogistic  notices,  and  both  the  paper 
and  its  editor  became  widely  and  favorably  known.  The 
New  Yorker  was  in  the  main  a  literary  paper,  though  it  had 
a  political  department  which  was  non-partisan.  It  came  to 
be  recognized  as  an  authority  on  political  statistics,  as  in 
later  days  was  the  Tribune.  The  first  article  by  Dickens 
that  appeared  in  this  country  was  published  in  the  first 
number  of  the  New  Yorker. 

Although  the  New  Yorker  became  famous  and  influen 
tial,  it  was  never  a  financial  success.  This  was  partly 
because  the  firm  made  a  better  paper  than  they  could 
afford  for  the  price,  but  largely  because  of  Greeley's  poor 
financial  management.  Possibly  the  enterprise  might  have 
made  more  money  had  it  not  been  for  the  great  panic  of 
1837,  known  as  "The  Year  of  Ruin." 

In  the  fall  of  1838  Thurlow  Weed  and  Lewis  Benedict 
of  Albany  called  upon  Mr.  Greeley  and  asked  him  to  edit 
a  campaign  paper  to  be  published  at  Albany  for  the  pur 
pose  of  furthering  the  Whig  cause  and  especially  to  discuss 
such  questions  as  the  tariff  and  the  United  States  Bank. 
It  was  a  movement  preliminary  to  the  great  campaign  of 
1 840.  The  ousting  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  a  matter  of 
special  interest.  The  political  fortunes  of  William  H. 
Seward  were  involved  in  the  movement.  The  close  rela 
tions  of  Weed,  Seward,  and  Greeley,  which  existed  so  long, 
and  which  were  ended  years  later  by  Mr.  Greeley  through  a 
letter  famous  in  political  history,  had  their  beginning  at 
this  time.  A  weekly  paper  called  the  Jeffersonian  was 


HORACE   GREELEY  65 

maintained  for  a  year  at  the  nominal  subscription  price  of 
fifty  cents,  the  deficiency  being  met  by  several  wealthy 
Whigs.  Mr.  Greeley  began  the  work  with  the  understand 
ing  that  he  should  be  paid  what  his  services  proved  to  be 
worth,  and  he  was  finally  given  a  thousand  dollars.  The 
paper  contributed  largely  to  the  Whig  success  in  the  state 
that  year,  and  to  the  election  of  Seward  over  Marcy  for 
governor.  It  was  conservative  in  tone  and  wholly  free 
from  personalities,  in  which  respect  it  was  the  reverse  of 
its  successor,  the  Log  Cabin. 

During  the  campaign  of  1840  Mr.  Greeley  edited  the 
Log  Cabin,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and  successful 
campaign  papers  ever  published.  Beginning  with  a  circu 
lation  of  nearly  fifty  thousand  copies  it  grew  to  nearly  one 
hundred  thousand  before  the  campaign  ended.  General 
Harrison  was  a  poor  man  and  at  one  time  had  lived  in  a 
log  cabin.  A  Democratic  journalist  commenting  on  the 
man  made  this  scoffing  remark,  "  Give  him  a  log  cabin  and 
a  barrel  of  hard  cider  and  he  will  be  content  without  the 
Presidency."  The  phrase  spread  like  wildfire.  It  led  to 
the  choice  of  the  name  for  Greeley's  campaign  paper.  There 
were  log  cabins  in  every  political  procession  of  the  Whigs, 
and  hard  cider  became  a  popular  beverage. 

The  campaign  was  one  of  the  most  exciting  ever  known. 
There  were  mass  meetings,  log-cabin  raisings,  caricatures, 
epigrams,  songs,  jokes,  Tippecanoe  clubs,  medals,  badges, 
flags,  handkerchiefs,  almanacs,  etc.  But  it  was  Horace 
Greeley  and  the  Log  Cabin  that  furnished  the  facts  and 
arguments  which  did  most  to  arouse  and  increase  popular 
enthusiasm.  Greeley  comprehended  the  popular  thought, 
and  his  style  took  the  fancy  of  the  public. 


66  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

Mr.  Greeley  made  but  little  money  out  of  the  Log  Cabin, 
though  he  made  a  great  reputation  as  an  able  editor,  a 
zealous  politician,  and  a  statistical  writer  of  great  force, 
marvelous  information,  and  marked  ability. 


THE 

Mr.  Greeley  had  now  prepared  the  way  for  the  great  work 
of  his  life.  To  the  qualifications  he  had  when  he  made  his 
first  business  venture  in  partnership  with  Mr.  Story  he 
had  added  much  experience  as  a  writer,  speaker,  and  editor. 
He  was  also  widely  known  and  had  many  influential  friends. 
He  resolved  to  establish  a  paper  "  removed  alike  from  serv 
ile  partisanship  on  the  one  hand  and  from  gagged,  mincing 
neutrality  on  the  other."  The  time  seemed  ripe  for  such  a 
movement.  There  were  but  two  really  live  papers  in  New 
York  at  that  time,  —  the  Sun,  not  then  a  strong  paper, 
and  the  Herald,  which  offended  respectable  people  by  its 
indecency.  Both  these  papers,  though  nominally  neutral, 
were  in  sympathy  with  the  Democratic  party.  So  there 
seemed  to  be  an  excellent  opportunity  to  start  a  strong, 
clean  paper,  Whig  in  politics  but  moderate  in  tone.  It 
was  under  such  circumstances  that  the  first  number  of  the 
Tribunes*  issued  on  Saturday,  the  roth  of  April,  1841. 

Even  in  those  early  days  it  was  an  expensive  undertaking 
to  start  a  daily  paper,  but  though  Greeley  had  little  money, 
he  was  known  to  be  a  man  of  ability,  industry,  experience, 
and  the  strictest  integrity. 

The  paper  began  with  six  hundred  subscribers.  Five 
thousand  copies  of  the  first  number  were  printed,  which 
Mr.  Greeley  had  considerable  trouble  in  giving  away.  The 


HORACE  GREELEY  67 

expenses  for  the  first  week  were  $525,  the  receipts  $92. 
This  was  not  an  encouraging  beginning,  but  Mr.  Greeley 
did  not  belong  to  the  class  of  men  who  give  up  easily. 
Then  he  had  the  not  uncommon  experience  of  being  helped 
by  his  enemies.  The  Sim  concocted  a  conspiracy  to  crush 
the  Tribune.  The  Sun  was  a  penny  paper  with  an  immense 
circulation,  and  it  feared  that  the  Tribune,  also  a  penny 
paper  and  much  better  edited,  would  lessen  its  popularity, 
so  attempts  were  made  to  bribe  the  carriers  of  the  new 
paper  to  give  up  their  routes  ;  newsmen  were  threatened 
with  the  loss  of  the  Sun  if  they  sold  the  Tribune ;  boys 
were  hired  to  flog  the  Tribune  newsboys.  The  Tribune 
took  steps  to  protect  its  carriers  and  told  in  its  columns  the 
story  of  the  persecution  that  was  going  on.  The  Ameri 
can  public  always  desires  fair  play,  so  subscriptions  to  the 
Tribune  flowed  in  rapidly.  Three  hundred  subscriptions  a 
day  were  received  for  three  weeks.  The  paper  began  its 
fourth  week  with  an  edition  of  six  thousand,  its  seventeenth 
with  eleven  thousand,  all  that  its  presses  could  print.  The 
amount  of  advertising  had  trebled  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  rate  had  been  doubled. 

Mr.  Greeley  soon  associated  with  him  Mr.  Thomas 
McElrath,  who  had  entire  charge  of  all  business  matters, 
a'nd  the  success  of  the  Tribune  has  been  due  to  his  good 
business  management  hardly  less  than  to  the  genius  of 
Mr.  Greeley.  It  was  a  happy  combination. 

The  good  fortune,  or  good  management,  of  Mr.  Greeley 
in  securing  efficient  associates  was  shown  in  many  other 
cases  besides  that  of  Mr.  McElrath.  There  were  George 
Ripley,  "  Father  of  literary  criticism  in  the  American 
Press "  ;  Henry  J.  Raymond,  who  afterwards  established 


68  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

the  New  York  Times  ;  Charles  A.  Dana,  noted  later  for  his 
management  of  the  Sun;  Bayard  Taylor,  traveler,  novel 
ist,  poet,  historian,  and  diplomat,  whose  first  contribution 
to  the  Tribune  was  Letters  Afoot ;  Margaret  Fuller,  who 
wrote  on  art  and  literature ;  Richard  Hildreth,  historian ; 
George  W.  Smalley,  the  noted  correspondent ;  William 
Winter,  dramatic  critic  ;  John  Russell  Young,  one  time 
managing  editor  of  the  Tribune,  later  editor  of  the  Herald, 
and  afterwards  minister  to  China;  Charles  Nordhoff,  noted 
author  and  correspondent,  in  recent  years  on  the  Herald ; 
and  many  others  hardly  less  able. 

At  the  end  of  its  second  year  the  Tribune  had  a  circula 
tion  of  twenty  thousand.  Mr.  Greeley  began  the  Tribune 
Almanac  in  1841,  but  until  1856  it  was  called  the  Whig 
Almanac.  The  Log  Cabin  and  the  New  Yorker  were  con 
solidated  to  form  the  Weekly  Tribune,  the  first  number  of 
which  appeared  September  20,  1841.  From  the  very  out 
set  it  was  influential  and  successful.  It  became  the  most 
widely  circulated  paper  in  the  United  States,  running  into 
the  hundreds  of  thousands.  A  semi-weekly  edition  of  the 
Tribune  was  begun  May  17,  1845. 

Mr.  Greeley  has  been  called  a  man  of  "isms,"  but  the  facts 
hardly  justify  such  a  charge.  He  was  a  man  with  an  open 
mind,  ready  for  new  ideas,  and  if  convinced  that  a  thing  was 
right,  he  advocated  it,  no  matter  what  others  might  do. 

As  he  had  been  poor,  very  poor,  himself,  he  felt  keenly 
the  hard  conditions  under  which  the  poor  struggled,  and 
his  sympathies  led  him  to  advocate  any  plan  whereby  their 
condition  might  be  improved.  He  became  interested  in 
Fourierism,  a  sort  of  socialism,  and  entered  into  a  contro 
versy  over  it  with  Henry  J.  Raymond.  Though  Greeley 


HORACE  GREELEY  69 

got  the  worst  of  the  argument,  the  discussion  brought 
about  a  better  understanding  of  cooperation  and  did  much 
good.  The  great  development  of  life  and  fire  insurance  (a 
form  of  cooperation)  was  no  doubt  due  in  a  large  measure 
to  the  public  interest  aroused  by  this  discussion. 

From  the  first  Mr.  Greeley  was  an  avowed  and  extreme 
protectionist.  His  hard  struggle  with  bitter  poverty  no 
doubt  intensified  his  ideas  on  this  subject.  He  believed 
in,  practiced,  and  advocated  total  abstinence,  but  was  not 
at  all  extreme  in  his  public  utterances  on  that  subject,  as 
he  sometimes  was  on  the  subject  of  the  use  of  tobacco, 
which  on  one  occasion  he  declared  to  be  "the  vilest  and 
most  detestable  abuse  of  his  corrupted  sensual  appetites 
whereof  man  is  capable." 

Above  all  else  Mr.  Greeley  was  a  reformer.  Incidentally 
he  was  an  editor,  lecturer,  author,  and  politician.  His  views 
upon  temperance,  tariff,  socialism,  capital  punishment,  slav 
ery,  war,  and  all  other  subjects  were  determined  by  their 
supposed  value  to  humanity.  He  was  by  heredity,  training, 
and  conviction  a  Puritan  of  the  Puritans,  but  it  was  the 
puritanism  of  the  New,  not  of  the  Old  Testament. 

Mr.  Greeley  had  a  horror  of  debt.  On  one  occasion  he 
said :  "To  be  hungry,  ragged,  and  penniless  is  not  pleasant, 
but  this  is  nothing  to  the  horrors  of  bankruptcy."  He  very 
likely  had  in  mind  the  bankruptcy  of  his  father,  which  drove 
him  from  his  native  state  and  brought  the  family  to  extreme 
poverty,  leaving  debts  to  be  paid  many  years  later. 

Mr.  Greeley 's  penmanship  was  indescribably  bad.  It  is 
said  that  a  letter  of  dismissal  to  one  of  his  employees  was 
successfully  used  as  a  letter  of  recommendation.  Number 
less  humorous  stories  are  told  regarding  his  handwriting. 


70  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

From  his  young  manhood  Mr.  Greeley  was  always  over 
worked,  doing  for  years  what  most  people  would  have 
called  too  much  for  two  men.  The  strain  of  a  political 
campaign  was  the  last  straw,  and  the  breakdown  would 
no  doubt  have  occurred  had  success  instead  of  failure 
crowned  his  efforts. 

Murat  Halstead  in  contrasting  Greeley  and  Bennett 
says :  "  James  Gordon  Bennett  was  a  newsman  ;  Horace 
Greeley  a  man  of  opinions  —  ideas,  if  you  please.  Ben 
nett's  paper  had  the  larger  circulation,  Greeley 's  the  greatest 
influence." 

Mr.  Greeley  cared  little  for  money.  He  always  voted 
against  any  proposition  to  raise  his  own  salary  as  manager 
of  the  Tribune  and  against  declaring  any  dividend  upon 
the  Tribune  stock,  wishing  to  put  all  its  earnings  into 
improving  the  plant.  Even  from  his  boyhood  he  seems 
never  to  have  been  able  to  say  No  to  a  borrower.  It  is 
said  that  from  time  to  time  he  loaned  at  least  $ $0,000  on 
worthless  pledges.  He  always  knew  that  he  was  being 
imposed  upon,  and  once  said :  "  Nine  tenths  of  those 
who  solicit  loans  of  strangers  or  casual  acquaintances  are 
thriftless  vagabonds,  who  will  never  be  any  better  off  than 
at  present,  or  scoundrels  who  would  never  pay  if  they 
were  able." 

Of  all  the  books  written  by  Mr.  Greeley  "The  American 
Conflict"  has  probably  the  greatest  merit,  the  first  volume, 
which  deals  with  the  causes  that  led  to  the  Civil  War, 
being  of  especial  value. 


HORACE   GREELEY  71 

MR.  GREELEY  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE 

A  sketch  of  Mr.  Greeley  that  should  omit  his  career  as  a 
public  man  would  be  very  incomplete,  yet  it  is  difficult  to 
sketch  that  phase  of  his  life  briefly  or  in  such  a  way  as 
to  make  clear  his  motives.  He  was  always  interested  in 
public  measures  and  in  public  life.  If  one  remembers  that 
measures  were  much  to  Mr.  Greeley  and  men  but  little, 
his  life  will  be  better  understood.  One  who  would  form  a 
just  estimate  of  him  must  not  forget  his  devotion  to  prin 
ciple,  his  love  for  his  fellow-men,  his  hatred  of  sham,  his 
lack  of  culture,  his  ignorance  of  social  life  and  customs, 
and  the  persistence  of  early  habits. 

Mr.  Greeley's  first  active  part  in  politics  in  a  large  way 
was  during  the  Harrison  campaign,  when  he  edited  the 
Log  Cabin,  During  the  campaign  of  1844  he  threw  into 
the  contest  all  his  strength  and  energy.  He  wrote,  spoke, 
and  worked  for  the  election  of  Mr.  Clay  with  an  ability  and 
endurance  possessed  by  few  men.  He  said  :  "  From  the 
day  of  his  nomination  in  May  to  that  of  his  defeat  in 
November  I  gave  every  effort,  every  thought  to  his  elec 
tion.  ...  I  gave  heart  and  soul  to  the  canvass." 

Four  years  later,  when  on  the  fourth  ballot  Taylor  was 
nominated  and  Clay  defeated  in  his  efforts  to  secure  the 
Presidential  nomination  of  the  Whig  party,  Mr.  Greeley 
left  the  convention  hall  in  disgust,  and  it  was  not  till  four 
months  had  passed  that  he  could  be  induced  to  put  the 
name  of  Taylor  at  the  head  of  his  columns. 

Mr.  Greeley  had  always  regarded  slavery  as  wrong,  but 
considered  it  a  question  with  which  the  North  had  little  to 
do.  The  seizure  of  Texas  and  the  war  with  Mexico  changed 


72  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

his  opinion,  and  he  said  that  these  movements  with  their 
avowed  purpose  made  the  question  of  slavery  one  in  which 
the  North  must  be  interested.  The  murder  of  Lovejoy,  the 
death  of  Taylor,  and  the  attitude  of  Fillmore  drove  Greeley 
from  the  ranks  of  the  "moderates." 

Mr.  Greeley  had  always  been  an  independent  Whig,  and 
with  the  disruption  of  that  party  went  all  that  bound  him 
within  any  strict  party  lines.  Nominally  a  Republican, 
chiefly  because  of  the  attitude  of  that  party  on  the  tariff, 
he  frequently  opposed  Republican  measures. 

In  1848  he  was  elected  to  Congress  to  fill  a  vacancy, 
and  attended  one  short  session  of  three  months.  Here  the 
habits  of  a  lifetime  controlled  him.  He  was  not  absent  a 
day  during  the  session  and  did  not  miss  a  single  meeting 
of  his  committee.  He  introduced  a  bill  to  facilitate  settling 
upon  public  lands.  During  the  whole  session  he  wrote  for 
the  Tribune.  One  article  attacking  the  mileage  system  with 
its  abuses  created  great  excitement  and  led  to  several  bitter 
debates  in  the  House. 

Before  1860  Greeley  had  broken  with  Seward  and 
strongly  opposed  his  nomination  for  the  Presidency,  though 
New  York  was  enthusiastic  for  him.  Greeley  attended  the 
convention  as  a  delegate  from  Oregon,  which  favored  the 
nomination  of  Bates  of  Missouri,  for  whom  he  worked  with 
great  earnestness,  both  because  he  believed  him  the  best 
man  to  nominate  and  because  he  thought  it  the  most 
effective  way  to  defeat  Seward.  As  frequently  happens, 
neither  man  was  nominated,  but  instead  Abraham  Lincoln 
of  Illinois.  Seward's  friends  felt,  and  rightly,  that  their 
defeat  was  due  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Greeley.  The  poor, 
friendless  printer's  apprentice  had  become  one  of  the  most 


HORACE   GREELEY 


73 


influential  men  of  a  great  party,  of  the  nation  in  fact. 
The  bitterness  growing  out  of  this  contest,  and  the  denun 
ciations  of  Greeley  on  the  part  of  Seward's  friends,  led  to 
the  publishing  of  a  letter  written  to  Seward  by  Greeley 
November  u,  1854,  announcing  the  ''dissolution  of  the 
political  firm  of  Seward,  Weed,  and  Greeley  by  the  with 
drawal  of  the  junior  member."  Perhaps  no  private  letter 
ever  made  public  created  a  greater  sensation  than  did  this. 

Mr.  Greeley  was  slow  to  believe  that  the  South  really 
meant  to  secede.  He  was  convinced  that  when  the  time 
came  to  settle  that  question,  if  it  ever  did  come,  a  majority 
in  nearly  every  state  would  be  opposed  to  it,  and  that  the 
matter  would  end  in  talk.  When  it  became  evident  that 
secession  was  to  come,  Mr.  Greeley  was  in  favor  of  letting  the 
South  go,  not  because  he  believed  they  had  a  right  to  secede, 
but  because  he  thought  it  not  wise  to  try  to  hold  them  by 
force.  To  understand  his  position  at  this  time  and  reconcile 
it  with  that  taken  later  one  must  not  forget  his  exaggerated, 
almost  fanatical  ideas  regarding  individual  liberty  and  his 
horror  of  bloodshed,  which  went  so  far  that  he  could  not  tol 
erate  the  idea  of  capital  punishment  for  any  crime.  At  this 
same  time  with  apparent  inconsistency  he  said  :  "  I  deny 
to  one  state,  or  to  a  dozen  different  states,  the  right  to  dis 
solve  this  Union.  It  can  only  legally  be  dissolved  as  it  was 
formed  —  by  the  free  consent  of  all  parties  concerned." 

After  the  war  had  begun  the  Tribune  kept  at  the  head 
of  its  columns  "Forward  to  Richmond,"  and  did  much  to 
create  a  public  sentiment  that  made  a  premature  movement 
necessary.  This  resulted  in  the  disaster  at  Bull  Run,  which 
so  affected  Mr.  Greeley  that  an  attack  of  brain  fever  fol 
lowed,  prostrating  him  for  six  weeks. 


74  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

Throughout  the  war  Greeley  and  the  Tribune  were  thorns 
in  the  side  of  the  government..  His  criticisms  of  the  actions 
of  the  administration  and  the  movements  of  the  armies  no 
doubt  afforded  considerable  comfort,  if  not  aid,  to  the  ene 
mies  of  the  North.  His  peace  mission,  his  urging  of  eman 
cipation,  were  premature,  and  harmed  instead  of  helping, 
but  a  purer  patriot  was  not  to  be  found.  His  errors  were 
those  of  the  head  and  not  of  the  heart. 

Mr.  Greeley  opposed  Mr.  Lincoln's  renomination.  He 
had  never  thought  Mr.  Lincoln  a  strong  man,  and  was  not 
in  sympathy  with  his  ideas  in  regard  to  prosecuting  the 
war.  In  considering  Mr.  Greeley 's  course  during  the  Civil 
War  one  should  remember  that  both  his  nature  and  his 
calling  tended  to  impress  him  with  a  sense  of  his  own 
infallibility.  His  frequent  and  sudden  change  of  front 
was  no  doubt  due  to  a  combination  of  honesty  and 
impulsiveness. 

It  is  somewhat  singular  that  while  Greeley  greatly  offended 
his  party  by  his  criticisms  of  the  administration,  he  was  at 
the  same  time  most  bitterly  hated  by  the  South  and  its 
Northern  sympathizers. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  Greeley  advocated  universal  am 
nesty  and  impartial  suffrage  and,  with  about  twenty  others, 
signed  the  bail  bond  of  Davis,  which  act  caused  almost  uni 
versal  indignation  at  the  North.  The  abuse  of  Mr.  Greeley 
was  unbounded,  but  he  bore  it  like  a  hero,  saying  :  "  Seeing 
how  passion  cools,  and  wrath  abates,  I  confidently  look 
forward  to  the  time  when  thousands  who  have  cursed,  will 
thank  me  for  what  I  have  done  and  dared  in  resistance  to 
their  own  sanguinary  impulses." 


HORACE  GREELEY  75 

This  act  of  Greeley's  was  the  most  magnanimous  and 
disinterested  of  his  whole  life,  and  at  the  same  time  per 
fectly  characteristic. 

There  was  within  the  Republican  party  a  strong  oppo 
sition  to  the  renomination  of  General  Grant.  Greeley  was 
bitterly  opposed  to  it,  but  as  time  went  on  it  was  seen  to 
be  inevitable,  and  a  national  convention  of  the  Republicans 
who  disapproved  of  Grant's  candidacy  was  called.  Many 
prominent  Republicans  were  present.  It  was  resolved  to 
nominate  an  independent  ticket.  Among  the  men  voted 
for  for  the  presidential  nomination  were  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  Lyman  Trumbull,  David  Davis,  Andrew  Curtin, 
B.  Gratz  Brown,  and  Horace  Greeley,  —  all  Republicans 
who  had  been  and  were  very  prominent  and  able  men. 
Mr.  Greeley  was  nominated  on  the  sixth  ballot.  He  was 
not  present  and  it  is  not  believed  that  he  expected  or  desired 
the  nomination,  but  he  threw  his  whole  strength  into  the 
movement,  as  into  everything  in  which  he  took  an  active 
interest.  His  nomination  was  indorsed  by  the  Democrats 
and  he  would  probably  have  been  elected  had  they  given 
him  a  cordial  support,  but  he  had  been  so  bitter  in  his 
attacks  on  the  Democratic  party  in  the  years  gone  by  that 
it  was  not  in  human  nature  for  all  of  them  to  forgive  or 
forget.  For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  our  country  a 
Presidential  candidate  took  the  stump  in  his  own  behalf. 
Mr.  Greeley  spoke  nearly  every  day  for  three  months. 
He  received  nearly  three  millions  of  votes  and  General 
Grant  something  over  half  a  million  more.  Mr.  Greeley's 
defeat  was  due  to  a  widespread  distrust  of  his  good  judg 
ment  and  to  the  wonderful  hold  of  General  Grant  upon  the 
American  people. 


76  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

The  strain  of  the  campaign  upon  Mr.  Greeley  had  been 
greater  than  any  one  could  pass  through  unharmed.  His 
wife  died  a  month  before  election,  and  for  a  month  preced 
ing  her  death  it  is  said  that  he  did  not  sleep  more  than  one 
hour  out  of  the  twenty-four.  This  and  the  work  of  the 
campaign  left  him  a  broken-down  old  man,  though  only  sixty- 
one  years  of  age.  Insomnia  followed,  which  resulted  in 
brain  fever,  and  he  died  on  the  2Oth  of  November,  1872. 

The  whole  nation  mourned  Mr.  Greeley's  death.  All 
partisan  feeling  vanished.  The  newspapers  in  all  parts  of 
the  country  paid  tribute  to  his  worth.  The  Union  League, 
Lotos,  and  many  other  clubs  and  organizations  of  all  kinds 
passed  resolutions  of  sorrow.  Cornell  University,  of  which 
he  was  a  trustee,  did  him  honor.  St.  Louis,  Albany,  Indi 
anapolis,  Nashville,  and  many  other  cities  held  memorial 
meetings.  John  Bright  sent  a  message  of  regret.  Con 
gress  passed  resolutions  of  respect  for  his  "  eminent  services 
and  personal  purity  and  worth." 

On  the  day  of  his  funeral  Fifth  Avenue  was  blocked  with 
people  for  a  mile.  Stores  were  closed  ;  houses  along  the 
route  of  the  procession  were  draped;  flags  in  the  harbor  were 
at  half-mast;  bells  tolled  from  one  to  three  o'clock.  There 
were  in  the  funeral  procession  two  hundred  and  fifty  car 
riages,  containing  the  President  of  the  United  States,  gov 
ernors  of  many  states,  senators,  and  other  friends. 

All  this  was  in  honor  of  one  who  had  made  his  way  unaided 
by  fortune  or  friends  ;  whose  opportunities  were  only  those 
of  his  own  making ;  one  who  through  all  his  life  had  thought 
more  of  others  than  of  himself,  and  more  of  the  truth  than 
of  all  else  ;  one  who  always  dared  to  do  the  right  as  he  saw 
it,  whatever  the  result  might  be. 


HORACE   GREELEY  77 

Greeley  is  a  part  of  his  country's  history.  Neither  his 
name  nor  his  acts  will  soon  be  forgotten.  The  Tribune 
which  he  established  is  his  enduring  monument.  No  life 
furnishes  more  of  cheer  and  encouragement  to  the  young 
man  who  has  his  own  way  to  make  in  life  and  who  is  will 
ing  to  work  and  wait,  and  work  while  he  waits. 


Cyrus  H.  McCormick 


CYRUS    HALL   McCORMICK 

1809-1884 

IT  is  probable  that  there  are  few  intelligent  people  in 
this  country  to  whom  the  name  of  Cyrus  Hall  McCormick 
is  unfamiliar.  We  owe  to  him,  more  than  to  any  other 
one  person,  what  has  been  perhaps  the  greatest  contribu 
tion  to  the  material  advancement  of  the  United  States. 

He  was  born  at  Walnut  Grove,  Rockbridge  County,  Vir 
ginia,  on  the  1 5th  of  February,  1809.  Of  Scotch-Irish 
stock,  he  adds  another  to  the  list  of  successful  Americans 
of  that  sturdy  ancestry.  His  father,  Robert,  had  eight  chil 
dren,  of  whom  Cyrus  was  the  eldest.  Robert  McCormick 
was  a  farmer,  but  had  on  his  farm  workshops  of  some 
importance,  as  well  as  a  sawmill,  a  gristmill,  and  a  black 
smith  shop.  These  gave  young  McCormick  experiences 
and  advantages  which  most  farmers'  sons  do  not  have,  and 
which  were  well  calculated  to  develop  any  latent  inventive 
genius  that  the  lad  possessed.  His  father  was  a  man  of 
mechanical  skill  and  inventive  genius,  and  from  him,  no 
doubt,  the  son  inherited  a  bent  towards  invention.  Within 
themselves  this  family  made  in  wood  and  iron  many  things 
necessary  for  daily  life. 

Robert  McCormick  invented  and  built  a  thresher  and 
a  hemp  breaker.  He  also  made  some  mill  improvements, 
and  in  1816  he  constructed  a  mechanical  reaper,  which  was 

79 


80  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

built  upon  impractical  principles,  and  after  failing  in  the  field 
it  was  laid  away,  but  Cyrus  often  saw  this  abandoned  experi 
ment.  No  doubt  young  McCormick's  inventive  genius  was 
stimulated  and  directed  by  his  father's  experiments,  and  he 
had  also  the  valuable  training  that  comes  only  through  hard 
work.  Like  all  other  workers  on  the  farm,  he  was  required 
at  seedtime  and  harvest  to  be  in  the  field  at  five  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  His  only  opportunity  of  obtaining  an  edu 
cation  was  that  offered  by  the  "old  field  school"  on  his 
father's  land. 

He  was  very  fond  of  watching  his  father's  experiments 
and  of  experimenting  for  himself.  At  fifteen  years  of  age 
he  made  a  harvesting  cradle,  by  the  use  of  which  he  could 
keep  up  with  an  able-bodied  workman.  The  first  invention 
which  he  patented  was  a  plow. 

His  father  had  expended  a  great  deal  of  thought,  time, 
and  money  on  an  effort  to  make  a  machine  that  would  reap 
grain.  Cyrus  became  interested  in  the  same  thing,  and 
though  his  father  warned  him  against  wasting  time  and 
money  upon  an  idle  dream,  the  idea  of  doing  away  with 
much  of  the  drudgery  of  harvesting  led  him  to  study  the 
ineffective  machine  that  his  father  had  made.  The  more 
he  studied  the  problem  the  more  he  became  convinced  that 
it  could  be  solved. 

After  much  experimenting  he  made  a  reaper  which  would 
cut  straight  grain  very  well,  but  which  would  not  work  if 
the  grain  were  wet,  lodged,  or  twisted.  It  was  clear  that 
such  a  machine  was  of  little  value.  A  satisfactory  one 
must  meet  whatever  conditions  existed. 

By  1831  Mr.  McCormick  had  devised  and  made  with 
his  own  hands  a  reaper  which  did  very  satisfactory  work; 


CYRUS  HALL  McCORMICK  8 1 

but  it  had  some  serious  defects,  so  he  made  no  effort  to 
patent  it.  A  year  later  he  had  so  far  perfected  the  machine 
that  it  cut  fifty  acres  of  wheat  in  a  manner  that  fully  estab 
lished  its  practical  value.  Still  McCormick  was  not  satis 
fied.  He  made  further  improvements,  and  in  1834  took 
out  a  patent,  but  even  then  he  was  not  ready  to  put  the 


Cyrus  McCormick' s  Birthplace 

machine  upon  the  market.     It  was  not  until  1840  that  any 
were  sold. 

About  1835  the  McCormicks  engaged  in  smelting  iron 
ore.  That  had  become  a  very  profitable  business,  and 
seemed  to  promise  more  financial  gain  than  the  reaper. 
Had  their  new  business  continued  to  prosper,  it  is  quite 
possible  that  we  should  never  have  had  the  perfected 
reaper ;  but  owing  to  the  decline  in  iron  and  because  the 
cost  of  transportation  to  market  by  wagon  was  more  than 


82  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

the  value  of  the  product,  during  the  panic  of  1837  their 
venture  ended  in  disaster.  Then  young  McCormick,  with 
his  father  and  brothers,  began  to  manufacture  reapers  in 
their  own  shops  on  the  farm.  How  often  it  happens  that 
a  seeming  misfortune  is  a  great  blessing ! 

They  had  a  primitive  workshop  at  Walnut  Grove  and 
made  fewer  than  fifty  machines  the  first  year.  They 
worked  at  a  great  disadvantage,  as  certain  heavy  parts 


Shop  where  First  Reaper  was  made 

had  to  be  made  at  a  furnace  a  considerable  distance  over 
the  mountain  and  the  matter  of  transportation  was  a  seri 
ous  one.  In  the  case  of  the  finished  machines  it  was  even 
worse,  for  it  was  in  the  West,  with  its  great  plains  and 
immense  grainfields,  not  in  the  East,  with  its  uneven  sur 
face  and  small  farms,  that  the  reaper  could  be  used  to  the 
best  advantage.  Therefore  the  machines  had  to  be  drawn 
by  teams  to  the  canal  at  Scottsville,  from  there  floated  to 
Richmond,  then  sent  to  the  coast,  and  from  there  sent 


CYRUS  HALL  McCORMICK 


First  McCormick  Reaper 


on  the  ocean  to  New  Orleans,  and  again  reshipped  and 
sent  up  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  to  Cincinnati  for  sale. 

It  was  clear  that 
it  was  a  great  waste 
of  effort  to  manu 
facture  in  Virginia 
implements  to  be 
used  in  the  West ; 
so  young  McCor- 
mick  started  from 
home  on  horse 
back,  with  a  little 
money  placed  in 
his  pocket  by  his  father,  and  went  to  Cincinnati  with  the 
view  of  arranging  with  some  firm  there  to  build  the  reapers 
under  his  supervision.  Here  he  made  a  contract  with  a  manu 
facturer  to  build 
some  reapers,  giv 
ing  farmers'  orders 
for  reapers  as 
security.  Later  he 
went  to  Brockport, 
New  York,  where 
he  contracted  with 
a  firm  to  manufac 
ture  reapers  for 

use   in   the   wheat 

Harvesting  with  Sickle  in  Alters  fidds   of  west  ern 

New  York,  the  makers  to  pay  a  royalty  on  each  machine  sold. 

In  1 846  he  began  the  manufacture  of  reapers  in  Chicago, 

experience  showing  that  to  be  the  point  most  favorable  alike 


84  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

for  manufacture  and  transportation.  Mr.  McCormick  con 
tinued  to  improve  his  reaper  and  the  demand  for  it  con 
stantly  increased.  In  1 847  he  sold  seven  hundred  machines, 
in  1848  more  than  twice  that  number. 

Having  associated  his  two  brothers  with  him,  Cyrus 
planned  to  introduce  the  reaper  into  Europe.  In  1851 
he  exhibited  it  at  the  World's  Fair  at  London,  where  it 
was  the  most  important  American  exhibit,  and  was  awarded 
the  grand  prize  known  as  the  Council  Medal.  The  London 


Harvesting  with  Cradle  in  West  Virginia 

Times  said  that  the  introduction  of  the  McCormick  reaper 
was  worth  to  the  farmers  of  Great  Britain  the  whole  cost  of 
the  fair.  From  that  day  to  this  the  reaper  has  received  the 
highest  award  at  every  fair  and  exposition  at  which  it  has  been 
shown,  and  has  steadily  grown  in  favor  all  over  the  world. 
The  great  Chicago  fire  in  1871  totally  destroyed  the 
McCormick  works,  but  they  were  rebuilt  within  a  year, 
and  now  cover  more  than  sixty  acres  of  floor  space.  The 
reapers  go  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  not  only  to  the  more 


CYRUS   HALL  McCORMICK  85 

progressive  countries,  but  to  Egypt,  India,  and  Persia  as  well. 
Thousands  have  been  sent  to  Russia  and  Siberia. 

It  would  be  a  difficult  task  to  determine  the  value  of  the 
reaper  to  the  world.  As  long  ago  as  1859  Reverdy  John 
son,  in  an  argument  before  the  Commissioner  of  Patents, 
declared  that  the  McCormick  reaper  was  worth  $55,000,000 
a  year  to  this  country.  If  that  was  so,  it  is  worth  very 
much  more  now.  About  the  same  time  William  H.  Seward 


Modern  Harvest  Scene  in  New  York 

declared  that  the  McCormick  reaper  moved  the  line  of  civi 
lization  westward  thirty  miles  a  year.  Certainly  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  great  areas  of  the  West  that  are  now 
waving  wheat  fields  would  still  be  unsettled  were  it  not  for 
McCormick's  invention.  It  is  estimated  that  the  use  of 
the  reaper  saves  in  labor  more  than  $100,000,000  annually, 
counting  a  man's  wages  at  a  dollar  a  day.  Its  inventor 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Institute  of  France  because  he 
had,  so  the  French  Academy  of  Science  declared,  "done 


86  SOME   SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

more  for  the  cause  of  agriculture  than  any  other  living 
man."  An  honor  worthily  bestowed. 

Mr.  McCormick  was  an  inventor  and  manufacturer,  but 
he  was  more.  He  interested  himself  in  religion,  education, 
journalism,  and  politics.  He  was  especially  helpful  to  his 
church  and  made  valuable  gifts  to  educational  institutions. 

The  business,  now  carried  on  by  his  three  sons,  is  grow 
ing  in  importance,  and  Cyrus  Hall  McCormick  is  still  a 
potent  force  in  the  development  of  our  country. 

The  settlement  of  the  great  West  is  due  in  no  small 
measure  to  McCormick's  great  invention.  We  read  every 
season  of  the  difficulty  in  getting  a  sufficient  number  of 
laborers  for  the  harvest.  Suppose  the  great  wheat  crop 
had  to  be  cut  by  hand  instead  of  by  the  reaper  and  its 
modification,  the  great  heading  machine,  that  cuts,  threshes, 
winnows,  and  puts  into  bags  five  thousand  bushels  of  wheat 
in  a  day.  Bearing  this  in  mind  and  not  forgetting  the 
gang  plow  and  seed  drill,  we  will  have  some  comprehension 
of  what  invention  has  done  to  make  the  great  West  of  to-day 
possible.  While  no  one  invention  could  have  brought  about 
this  condition  of  affairs,  that  of  McCormick  was  by  far  the 
most  important  and  far  reaching  in  its  consequences. 

Inventions  and  various  labor-saving  devices  supplement 
each  other.  The  great  wheat  crops  of  the  Northwest  would 
not  be  possible  without  the  invention  of  McCormick ;  but 
the  crop  could  not  be  brought  to  market  without  the  rail 
road,  and  the  cost  of  transportation  would  be  prohibitive 
but  for  the  invention  of  Bessemer  steel,  and  the  full  benefit 
of  that  invention  would  not  have  been  reaped  so  far  as  its 
application  to  railroad  transportation  is  concerned  but  for 
the  air  brake  of  Westinghouse. 


CYRUS  HALL  McCORMICK  87 

It  may  well  be  said  that  Cyrus  Hall  McCormick  is  a 
part  of  his  country's  history,  of  that  part  of  its  history 
which  will  always  constitute  its  chief  glory, — the  conquests 
of  the  arts  of  peace.  The  name  of  McCormick  will  always 
be  among  the  very  first  in  the  long  list  of  those  who  have 
contributed  to  the  industrial  development  of  our  country. 


Frances  E.  Willard 


88 


FRANCES    ELIZABETH   WILLARD 

1839-1898 

THE  ancestry  of  Frances  Willard  was  such  that  it  might 
have  been  expected  she  would  concern  herself  more  with 
the  welfare  of  others  than  with  her  own  prosperity  or 
comfort.  Among  her  ancestors  on  her  father's  side  was 
Major  Simon  Willard,  of  Kent,  England,  who  settled  at 
Concord,  Massachusetts,  in  1634.  His  intellectual  motto 
was  " Truth  for  authority,  not  authority  for  truth."  He 
occupied  many  public  positions  of  trust  and  always  had  the 
confidence  of  the  community  in  which  he  lived.  Among 
his  immediate  descendants  were  two  presidents  of  Harvard 
University,  the  Reverend  Samuel  Willard,  pastor  of  the 
Old  South  Church,  Boston,  who  opposed  the  hanging  of 
witches,  and  Solomon  Willard,  of  Quincy,  Massachusetts, 
who  designed  Bunker  Hill  Monument  and  would  accept  no 
compensation  for  the  work. 

Miss  Willard 's  great-grandfather  was  for  forty  years  the 
pastor  of  the  same  church,  and  served  as  chaplain  through 
out  the  Revolution.  Her  father  was  a  refined,  intellectual, 
and  religious  man,  possessing  a  fine  mind  and  an  inflexible 
will.  Her  mother,  Mary  Thompson  Hill,  came  from  a  very 
gifted  family  whose  ancestors  were  noted  for  moral  courage. 
So  Frances  Willard 's  education  began,  as  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes  says  every  one's  education  should  begin,  a  hundred 
years  before  she  was  born. 

89 


90  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

It  was  in  Churchville,  New  York,  on  the  28th  of  Septem 
ber,  1839,  that  Frances  Elizabeth  Willard  first  saw  the  light 
of  day.  While  she  was  very  young  her  parents  moved  to 
Oberlin,  Ohio,  and  in  the  spring  of  1846  they  moved  to 
Janesville,  Wisconsin,  on  the  Rock  River.  Here  they 
spent  twelve  happy  years  in  their  "  forest  home  "  of  which 
Miss  Willard  has  so  often  written  and  spoken.  Their  life 
was  a  very  happy  one.  The  children  had  to  rely  largely 
upon  themselves  for  their  entertainment,  a  thing  that  always 
tends  to  develop  self-reliance.  They  had  "  Indian  fights  " 
and  played  "  city  "  and  "fort  "  and  occupied  their  time  very 
fully  in  other  ways  that  did  much  to  develop  individuality. 
They  always  celebrated  their  Fourth  of  July,  though  not 
in  the  noisy  manner  with  which  most  of  us  are  familiar. 
Very  little  was  made  of  Thanksgiving  or  Christmas,  and 
nothing  at  all  of  New  Year's. 

Frances  learned  to  read  from  The  Slaves'  Friend  and  so 
learned  to  hate  slavery.  All  the  children,  when  very  young, 
signed  the  total-abstinence  pledge  inscribed  in  the  family 
Bible.  This  was  the  pledge  : 

A  pledge  we  make,  no  wine  to  take, 
No  brandy  red  that  turns  the  head, 
Nor  fiery  rum  that  ruins  home, 
Nor  whisky  hot  that  makes  the  sot, 
Nor  brewer's  beer,  for  that  we  fear, 
And  cider,  too,  will  never  do  ; 
To  quench  our  thirst  we  '11  always  bring 
Cold  water  from  the  well  or  spring. 
So  here  we  pledge  perpetual  hate 
To  all  that  can  intoxicate. 

Not  only  the  ancestry  but  all  the  early  life  of  Frances 
Willard  tended  to  make  her  what  she  was.  One  could  not 


FRANCES  ELIZABETH  VVILLARD  91 

grow  up  in  companionship  with  her  father  and  mother,  and 
live  the  life  they  lived,  without  hating  that  which  was  evil 
and  loving  that  which  was  good. 

When  Frances  was  fourteen  her  father  and  one  of  his 
neighbors  secured  the  building  of  a  little  schoolhouse  in 
the  woods  about  a  mile  from  their  home.  Here  she  and 
her  sister  were  instructed  for  a  year,  after  which  they  made 
a  visit  to  the  old  home  in  the  East,  and  then  attended 
a  select  school  in  Janesville.  In  1857  they  were  students 
in  the  Milwaukee  Female  College,  where  their  aunt,  Miss 
Sarah  Hill,  was  professor  of  history. 

The  two  sisters  hoped  to  continue  their  studies  in  Mil 
waukee,  but  their  father  desired  a  more  strictly  sectarian 
school  for  his  children  and  sent  them  to  the  Northwestern 
Female  College  at  Evanston,  Illinois.  Frances  at  this  time 
was  in  her  nineteenth  year.  She  was  soon  an  acknowledged 
leader  in  school  and  active  in  all  phases  of  school  life. 

She  had  early  determined  to  become  in  some  way  a 
force  for  good  in  the  world,  and  as  in  those  days  there  was 
little  open  to  women  save  teaching,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  that  soon  after  graduation  she  began  to  teach  school.  In 
her  autobiography  she  says  : 

Between  1858,  when  I  began,  and  1874,  when  I  forever  ceased  to 
be  a  pedagogue,  I  had  thirteen  separate  seasons  of  teaching,  in  eleven 
separate  institutions  and  six  separate  towns,  my  pupils  in  all  num 
bering  about  two  thousand. 

In  1871  she  was  elected  president  of  Evanston  College  for 
Ladies,  for  she  was  at  this  time  becoming  interested  in  the 
"woman  question,"  or,  as  she  preferred  to  call  it,  the  "  human 
question."  It  was  because  of  the  fact  that  the  admission 
of  women  to  many  of  the  so-called  co-educational  colleges 


92  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

was  nominal  rather  than  real  that  Miss  Willard  and  others 
interested  themselves  in  the  establishment  of  a  college  for 
women. 

While  Miss  Willard  was  dean  of  the  Northwestern  Female 
College  the  Woman's  Temperance  Crusade  began.  In  Ohio 
the  streets  of  many  of  the  cities  and  towns  were  rilled  with 
women  who  went  in  processions  to  the  saloons,  singing, 
praying,  and  pleading  with  the  liquor  sellers.  While  Miss 
Willard  took  no  part  in  this  movement  she  was  greatly 
interested  in  it  and  gave  her  pupils  in  rhetoric  such  themes 
as  these:  "John  B.  Gough,"  "Neal  Dow,"  and  "  Does  Pro 
hibition  Prohibit  ? " 
When  the  move 
ment  reached  Chi 
cago  the  women 
were  rudely  treated 
by  bands  of  rough 
men,  and  this  thor 
oughly  aroused  Miss 
Willard.  Soon  after 
she  made  a  public 
address  in  which  she 

said  that  this  was  "  everybody's  war."  She  declared  that 
she  was  with  the  temperance  women  "  heart,  mind,  and 
hand."  She  made  several  other  addresses  and  her  services 
were  much  in  demand.  She  said  at  the  time,  "  To  serve 
such  a  cause  would  be  utterly  enthralling,  if  I  only  had  more 
time,  —  if  I  were  more  free."  The  freedom  soon  came. 
She  differed  with  the  president  of  the  university  on  matters 
of  college  government,  and  the  difference  was  so  radical 
that  she  resigned  her  position. 


FRANCES  ELIZABETH  WILLARD 


93 


Her  interest  in  the  crusade  led  her  to  visit  the  East  to 
study  the  temperance  movement  and  confer  with  the  tem 
perance  leaders  in  New  York  City,  Boston,  and  Portland. 
She  saw  the  mission  temperance  work  in  the  slums  of 
New  York,  attended  at  Old  Orchard,  Maine,  the  first 
gospel  temperance  camp  meeting  ever  held,  and  listened 
to  the  story  of  the  "  Maine  Law  "  as  told  by  Neal  Dow. 

After  this  visit  Miss  Willard  was  at  a  loss  as  to  what  she 
should  do.  All  her  friends  and  acquaintances,  save  one, 
Mrs.  Mary  A.  Livermore,  advised  her  to  continue  teaching, 
especially  as  she  was  dependent  upon  her  own  exertions  for 
her  support.  Mrs.  Livermore  advised  her  to  join  the  tem 
perance  movement  and  predicted  for  her  a  great  success. 

While  still  undecided  she  received  two  letters  the  same 
day,  one  offering  her  the  position  of  lady  principal  of  a 
fine  private  school  at  a  salary  of  $2400  a  year,  with  the 
privilege  of  selecting  such  work  as  she  chose,  the  other 
from  Mrs.  Louise  S.  Rounds,  of  Chicago,  begging  her  to 
take  the  presidency  of  the  Chicago  branch  of  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  admitting  that  it  lacked 
organization  and  financial  resources,  but  saying,  "  It  has 
come  to  me,  as  I  believe,  from  the  Lord,  that  you  ought 
to  be  our  president."  She  declined  the  salaried  position 
with  its  many  attractions  and  accepted  the  other.  This 
was  the  turning  point  of  her  life. 

Of  her  action  at  this  time  she  says : 

No  words  can  adequately  characterize  the  change  wrought  in  my 
life  by  this  decision.  Instead  of  peace  I  was  to  participate  in  war  ; 
instead  of  the  sweetness  of  home,  never  more  dearly  loved  than  I  had 
loved  it,  I  was  to  become  a  wanderer  on  the  face  of  the  earth  ;  instead 
of  libraries,  I  was  to  frequent  public  halls  and  railway  cars  ;  instead 


94 


SOME   SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 


of  scholarly  and  cultured  men,  I  was  to  see  the  dregs  of  saloon, 
gambling  house,  and  haunt  of  shame.  But  women  who  were  among 
the  fittest  gospel  survivals  were  to  be  my  comrades  ;  little  children 
were  to  be  gathered  from  near  and  far  in  the  Loyal  Temperance 
Legion;  and  whoever  keeps  such  company  should  sing  a  psalm  of  joy, 
solemn  as  it  is  sweet.  Hence  I  have  felt  that  great  promotion  came 
to  me  when  I  was  counted  worthy  to  be  a  worker  in  the  organized 


House  in  which  Miss  Willard  first  taught  School 

crusade  for  "  God  and  home  and  native  land."  Temporary  differ 
ences  may  seem  to  separate  some  of  us  for  a  while,  but  I  believe  with 
all  my  heart  that  farther  on  we  shall  be  found  walking  once  more 
side  by  side. 

Miss  Willard  entered  upon  her  work  with  the  utmost  ardor. 
At  first  she  would  not  consider  the  matter  of  compensation, 
but  she  had  little  means  and  she  soon  found  herself  walking 
miles  because  she  had  not  five  cents  for  car  fare,  and  going 
to  meetings  hungry  because  she  had  not  the  price  of  a  meal. 
When  this  became  known  she  was  paid  a  moderate  salary. 


FRANCES   ELIZABETH  WILLARD  95 

In  1874  she  was  made  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Illi 
nois  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  and  in  Novem 
ber  of  the  same  year,  at  a  meeting  held  at  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  permanent  national  organization, 
she  was  elected  to  the  same  office  in  that  association.  At 
this  meeting  Miss  Willard  offered  the  following  resolution, 
which  furnishes  a  clew  to  her  spirit  and  principles. 

Resolved,  That,  recognizing  that  our  cause  is  and  will  be  combated 
by  mighty,  determined,  and  relentless  foes,  we  will,  trusting  in  Him 
who  is  the  Prince  of  Peace,  meet  argument  with  argument,  misjudg- 
ment  writh  patience,  denunciation  with  kindness,  and  all  our  difficulties 
and  dangers  with  prayer. 

Within  a  few  months  after  she  undertook  her  work  Miss 
Willard  practically  controlled  the  work  of  the  Chicago,  Illi 
nois,  and  national  organizations.  In  1879  sne  was  elected 
president  of  the  National  Union,  which  position  she  held 
till  the  time  of  her  death. 

It  is  not  possible  in  this  brief  sketch  to  deal  with  the 
details  of  Miss  Willard 's  work.  With  the  White  Ribbon 
movement,  pioneer  work  in  the  West,  visits  to  every  prov 
ince  of  Canada,  a  tour  through  the  South,  campaigns  for 
constitutional  amendments  in  many  states,  the  editorship 
of  the  Union  Signal,  writing  several  books,  working  for 
the  Temple,  the  National  Temperance  Hospital,  and  the 
Woman's  Temperance  Publishing  Association,  she  did  more 
than  the  work  of  three  people  and  did  it  wonderfully  well. 
She  was  a  marvelous  organizer  and  a  remarkable  presiding 
officer. 

She  believed  in  woman's  suffrage,  believed  it  to  be  right 
in  any  event,  and  to  be  absolutely  necessary  to  the  passage 
and  enforcement  of  proper  temperance  legislation. 


96  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

The  culmination  of  Miss  Willard's  work  was  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  World's  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union, 
of  which  she  was  made  president.  The  story  of  her  visit  to 
England  and  her  work  there  is  another  illustration  of  the 
many-sided  ability  of  the  woman  and  of  her  tireless  energy. 

In  February,  1898,  Miss  Willard  was  attacked  by  influ 
enza,  which  her  physician  did  not  think  serious  ;  but  the 
strain  of  long-continued  work  led  to  her  death  on  the  i/th 
of  the  month. 

With  the  exception  of  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  no  other 
woman  was  so  widely  known,  and  perhaps  none  was  so 
beloved.  The  influence  of  her  life  cannot  be  measured. 
She  was  an  orator  of  great  power  and  addressed  more  than 
four  thousand  audiences  ;  she  possessed  great  executive 
ability,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  are  now  work 
ing  together  for  common  ends  because  of  her  efforts.  She 
was  lecturer,  editor,  preacher,  presiding  officer,  organizer, 
correspondent,  and  traveler,  and  in  each  capacity  touched 
and  influenced  thousands. 

She  was  not  interested  in  temperance  alone,  but  worked 
for  equal  suffrage,  social  purity,  labor  reform,  —  for  whatever 
she  believed  stood  for  the  uplifting  of  humanity.  It  was 
not  so  much  a  movement  or  a  cause  that  interested  her 
as  the  welfare  of  mankind.  Her  sympathies  and  views 
were  broad.  Unlike  many,  perhaps  most  reformers,  she 
was  always  free  from  bitterness,  and  to  this  fact  not  a  little 
of  her  power  was  due. 

A  busier,  purer,  more  devoted,  and  less  selfish  life  has 
rarely  been  lived. 

The  life  of  Miss  Willard  shows  the  marvelous  possibili 
ties  of  a  single  person  who  is  willing  to  devote  his  entire 


FRANCES  ELIZABETH  WILLARD  97 

energies  to  a  single  purpose.  While  Miss  Willard  was  a 
woman  of  superior  attainments,  it  was  not  so  much  her 
ability  as  her  supreme  devotion  to  her  work  that  wrought 
the  success  she  strove  for.  The  same  devotion  on  the  part 
of  persons  of  less  ability  has  brought  the  same  degree  of 
success  in  many  a  narrower  field. 


Louisa  M.  Alcott 


98 


LOUISA   M.  ALCOTT 

1832-1888 

LOUISA  M.  ALCOTT  was  well  born.  Although  her  father, 
Amos  Bronson  Alcott,  was  an  impractical  idealist,  he  was 
of  good  ancestry  and  a  man  of  culture  and  refinement. 
Her  mother  had  a  fine  physique,  untiring  energy,  and  supe 
rior  intellect.  She  was  fond  of  writing,  her  letters  being 
remarkable  for  their  wit  and  humor  as  well  as  for  their 
keen  criticism  and  fine  moral  sentiments.  Mrs.  Alcott  was 
a  daughter  of  Colonel  Joseph  May,  a  member  of  a  noted 
family.  Through  her  grandmother,  Dorothy  Sewell,  she 
was  connected  with  a  family  remarkable  for  its  ability  and 
virtue.  With  such  an  ancestry  it  might  well  be  expected 
that  Miss  Alcott  would  be  no  ordinary  woman. 

The  hardships  and  trials  of  her  early  life  furnished  her 
with  experiences  that  she  made  large  use  of  in  her  writings. 
They  also  contributed  much  towards  her  development. 

Miss  Alcott  was  perhaps  the  most  popular  writer  for  the 
young  that  this  country  has  yet  produced.  Her  influence 
has  been  great  and  beneficent.  She  has  written  effectively 
because  she  has  written  chiefly  out  of  her  own  experiences 
and  because  her  experiences  have  been  similar  to  those  of 
thousands  of  other  young  people.  The  storybook  child 
speaks  to  the  real  child  in  a  more  effective  manner  than 
any  grown  person  could  do. 

99 


100  SOME   SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 


Miss  ALCOTT'S  CHILDHOOD 

Louisa  M.  Alcott  was  born  in  Germantown,  Pennsylvania, 
November  29,  1832.  There  were  four  other  daughters  in 
the  family.  Mr.  Alcott  went  to  Germantown  to  take  charge 
of  a  school,  but,  like  every  other  enterprise  with  which  he 
had  to  do,  it  was  a  failure.  In  1834  he  moved  to  Boston 
where  he  again  undertook  the  management  of  a  school. 
Here  for  a  time  he  was  partially  successful,  and  his  family 
were  fairly  comfortable,  though  they  lived  to  a  large  extent 
upon  boiled  rice  without  sugar  and  graham  meal  cooked 
and  eaten  without  butter  or  molasses.  This  was  partly  due 
to  their  poverty,  but  more  particularly  to  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Alcott  believed  in  a  strictly  vegetable  diet.  On  one 
occasion,  when  he  was  discussing  its  advantages,  he  said 
that  it  would  produce  a  sweet  temper  and  good  disposition. 
Little  Louisa  called  out,  "  I  don't  know  about  that,  father. 
I  've  never  eaten  any  meat,  and  I  'm  often  very  cross." 

The  Alcotts  allowed  their  children  so  much  freedom  that 
some  of  their  friends  thought  sufficient  care  was  not  taken 
in  regard  to  their  associates.  In  reply  to  a  question  upon 
that  subject  Mrs.  Alcott  replied: 

I  can  trust  my  daughters,  and  this  is  the  best  way  to  teach  them 
how  to  shun  these  sins  and  comfort  these  sorrows.  They  cannot 
escape  the  knowledge  of  them  ;  better  gain  this  under  their  father's 
roof  and  their  mother's  care,  and  so  be  protected  by  these  experiences 
when  their  turn  comes  to  face  the  world  and  its  temptations. 

Miss  Alcott  gives  a  charming  picture  of  their  early  life. 
She  says  : 

Once  we  carried  our  breakfast  to  a  starving  family;  once  lent 
our  dinner  to  a  neighbor  suddenly  taken  unprepared  by  distinguished 


LOUISA  -M.  &LCOTT  IOI 

guests.  Another  time,  one  snowy  Saturday  night,  when  our  wood 
was  very  low,  a  poor  child  came  to  beg  a  little,  as  the  baby  was  sick 
and  the  father  had  spent  all  his  wages.  My  mother  hesitated  a  little 
at  first,  as  we  also  had  a  baby.  Very  cold  weather  was  upon  us,  and 
a  Sunday  to  be  got  through  before  any  more  wood  could  be  had. 
My  father  said,  "  Give  half  our  stock  and  trust  in  Providence;  the 
weather  will  moderate,  or  wood  will  come."  Mother  laughed  and 
answered  in  her  cheery  way,  "Well,  their  need  is  greater  than  ours, 
and  if  our  half  gives  out  we  can  go  to  bed  and  tell  stories."  So  a 
generous  half  went  to  the  poor  neighbor,  and  a  little  later  in  the 
evening,  while  the  storm  still  raged,  and  we  were  about  to  cover  our 
fire  to  keep  it,  a  knock  came,  and  a  farmer  who  usually  supplied  us 
appeared,  saying  anxiously,  "  I  started  for  Boston  with  a  load  of 
wood,  but  it  drifts  so  I  want  to  go  home.  Should  n't  you  like  to  have 
me  drop  the  wood  here?  It  would  accommodate  me,  and  you  need  not 
hurry  about  paying  for  it."  "  Yes,"  said  father,  and  as  the  man  went 
off  he  turned  to  mother  with  a  look  that  much  impressed  us  children 
with  his  gifts  as  a  seer,  saying,  "  Did  n't  I  tell  you  the  wood  would 
come  if  the  weather  did  not  moderate?" 

Mother's  motto  was  "Hope  and  keep  busy,"  and  one  of  her  sayings, 
"  Cast  your  bread  upon  the  waters,  and  after  many  days  it  will  come 
back  to  you  buttered." 

Owing  to  Mr.  Alcott 's  peculiar  management  the  school 
at  Boston  dwindled  in  numbers  till  it  consisted  of  his  three 
daughters,  a  white  boy,  and  a  colored  boy.  In  1840  the 
family  moved  to  Concord.  The  cottage  in  which  they  lived 
while  there  is  described  in  "  Little  Women  "  as  Meg's  first 
home.  There  was  a  large  barn,  which  was  a  favorite  play 
ing  place  for  the  Alcott  children.  They  liked  to  act  plays, 
and  dramatized  many  fairy  stories.  These  experiences 
were  made  use  of  by  Miss  Alcott  in  her  books.  While 
here  she  developed  a  great  fondness  for  animals,  which 
shows  itself  in  her  writings.  She  was  very  fond  of  out-of- 
door  life  and  says  : 


102          -SOME -SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

I  always  thought  I  must  have  been  a  deer  or  a  horse  in  some 
former  state,  because  it  was  such  a  joy  to  run.  No  boy  could  be  my 
friend  till  I  had  beaten  him  in  a  race,  and  no  girl,  if  she  refused  to 
climb  trees,  leap  fences,  and  be  a  tomboy. 

Miss  Alcott  went  to  school  with  the  children  of  Emerson, 
and  so  came  to  know  him  well  and  to  love  and  revere  him 
greatly.  She  knew  him  not  as  the  wise  philosopher  but  as 
the  loving  playfellow  of  young  people,  one  who  took  them 
to  gather  berries,  or  to  a  picnic  at  Walden  Pond,  where  he 
would  tell  them  stories  of  Thoreau  and  his  woodland  pets. 

She  never  liked  arithmetic  or  grammar  and  dodged  those 
lessons  whenever  it  was  possible.  Inasmuch  as  her  father 
was  almost  the  only  teacher  she  ever  knew,  it  is  easy  to 
believe  that  she  was  generally  successful  in  escaping  any 
study  she  found  disagreeable.  She  liked  reading,  writing, 
composition,  history,  and  geography.  One  of  her  chief 
pleasures  was  to  listen  to  her  father  when  he  read  aloud. 
Her  favorite  books  were  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  Krum- 
macher's  "  Parables,"  fairy  tales,  and  the  novels  of  Miss 
Edgeworth.  She  says  : 

On  Sundays  we  had  a  simple  service  of  Bible  stories,  hymns,  and 
conversation  about  the  state  of  our  little  consciences  and  the  conduct 
of  our  childish  lives,  which  will  never  be  forgotten. 

In  1842  Mr.  Alcott  went  to  England  to  meet  friends 
who,  like  himself,  were  much  wrought  up  over  a  scheme 
for  a  social  life  on  a  higher  scale.  In  1843  this  company 
of  idealists  began  life  on  a  farm  near  Concord  which  they 
called  "  Fruitlands."  The  end  of  the  experiment  can  easily 
be  imagined.  The  life  of  the  Alcotts  there  could  not  have 
been  a  happy  one.  Miss  Alcott  has  told  the  story  in  her 
"Transcendental  Wild  Oats." 


LOUISA   M.  ALCOTT 


I03 


After  the  failure  at  "  Fruitlands  "  the  Alcotts  returned 
to  Concord,  where  for  a  time  they  were  so  poor  that  they 
had  to  be  assisted  by  friends.  A  little  later  Mrs.  Alcott 
inherited  from  her  father  a  small  sum  of  money,  with  which 
she  purchased  a  place  in  Concord  known  as  "  Hillside," 
where  Hawthorne  afterwards  lived.  Louisa  was  now  nine 
years  old.  The  next  seven  years,  which  she  passed  in  this 


Home  of  Louisa  M.  Alcott 

house,  she  declared  to  be  the  happiest  of  her  life,  notwith 
standing  the  fact  that  it  took  the  utmost  efforts  of  all  to 
keep  the  family  clothed  and  fed.  There  was  little  work  to 
be  had  in  Concord  of  a  kind  for  which  either  Mr.  or  Mrs. 
Alcott  was  fitted,  and  even  the  brave  and  cheery  mother 
at  last  despaired.  On  the  advice  of  a  friend  the  Alcotts 
moved  in  1848  to  Boston,  where  Mrs.  Alcott  secured  em 
ployment  as  a  visitor  of  the  poor  for  a  benevolent  society. 
A  more  suitable  person  for  such  a  work  could  hardly  have 
been  found. 


104  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

The  relation  between  Miss  Alcott  and  her  mother  was 
unusually  close  and  sympathetic.  Her  mother  often  wrote 
notes  to  her  and  left  them  in  her  journal  to  be  found 
and  read  when  alone.  Commenting  on  this  custom  Miss 
Alcott  says: 

I  found  one  of  my  mother's  notes  in  my  journal,  so  like  those  she 
used  to  write  when  she  had  more  time.  It  always  encourages  me,  and 
I  wish  some  one  would  write  as  helpfully  to  her,  for  she  needs  cheer 
ing  up  with  all  the  care  she  has.  I  often  think  what  a  hard  life  she 
has  had  since  she  married,  —  so  full  of  wandering  and  all  sorts  of 
worry  !  so  different  from  her  early  easy  days,  the  youngest  and  most 
petted  of  her  family.  I  think  she  is  a  very  brave,  good  woman,  and 
my  dream  is  to  have  a  lovely,  quiet  home  for  her;  but  I  'm  afraid  she 
will  be  in  Heaven  before  I  can  do  it. 

This  dream  of  making  a  happy  home  for  her  mother  was 
never  forgotten,  and  was  always  urging  her  on  to  greater 
efforts.  No  doubt  her  final  financial  success  pleased  her 
far  more  because  of  what  it  meant  for  others  than  because 
of  what  it  would  do  for  herself. 

Miss  Alcott's  literary  work  did  not  easily  meet  with  suc 
cess.  For  many  years  she  had  to  take  up  other  pursuits 
in  order  to  earn  a  living.  She  had  much  experience  in 
teaching  school,  but  it  brought  her  no  enjoyment.  Again 
and  again  she  speaks  of  it  in  her  journal,  and  never  with 
pleasure.  On  one  occasion  she  says  :  "  School  is  hard 
work,  and  I  feel  as  if  I  should  like  to  run  away  from  it." 

Once,  when  she  was  more  than  ordinarily  wearied  with 
the  work  of  teaching,  she  went  as  a  companion  for  an  old 
man  and  his  sister.  Her  unhappy  experience  is  told  in  her 
sketch  entitled  "How  I  Went  Out  to  Service."  She  earned 
considerable  money  by  sewing.  On  one  occasion  she  was 


LOUISA   M.  ALCOTT  105 

a  household  servant  for  about  four  months,  receiving  two 
dollars  a  week  as  wages.  During  this  time  her  father  was 
on  a  lecturing  tour  in  the  West,  and  her  sister  Anna  was 
teaching,  while  her  mother  took  boarders.  She  writes  in 
her  journal  at  the  close  of  her  term  of  service  as  follows  : 

Pleasant  letters  from  father  and  Anna.  A  hard  year.  Summer 
distasteful  and  lonely ;  winter  tiresome  with  school,  and  people  I 
didn't  like.  I  miss  Anna,  my  one  bosom  friend  and  comforter. 

At  this  time  Miss  Alcott  was  anxious  to  become  an  actress 
and  hoped  to  rival  Mrs.  Siddons.  The  struggles  that  she 
endured  in  her  early  life,  and  bore  cheerfully,  richly  entitled 
her  to  all  the  success  that  later  years  could  bring. 

Miss  ALCOTT  AS  AN  AUTHOR 

Miss  Alcott  received  $5  for  her  first  story,  which  was 
published  when  she  was  twenty  years  old.  It  had  little 
merit,  and  the  same  is  true  of  all  her  early  writings.  Other 
similar  stories  succeeded  the  first  one  at  about  the  same 
compensation.  She  was  satisfied  with  the  small  sums  earned 
and  the  somewhat  cheap  notoriety  her  work  brought  her. 
It  was  not  till  much  later  in  life  that  she  wrote  anything 
of  real  value.  She  came  fully  to  realize  the  character  of 
her  earlier  work  and  spoke  of  it  as  "  trash  and  rubbish." 

When  she  was  twenty-two  years  of  age  Miss  Alcott 
published  her  first  volume,  a  book  of  sketches  called 
"  Flower  Fables,"  for  which  she  received  $32.  From  this 
time  on  she  made  progress,  though  very  slowly.  About 
this  time  she  gives  one  quarter's  earnings  as  follows : 
teaching,  $50 ;  sewing,  $50  ;  stories,  $20.  When  she  was 
twenty-seven  she  wrote  a  story  for  the  Atlantic,  for  which 


106  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

she  received  $50.  This  was  a  decided  advance  in  the 
amount  of  money  earned,  and  a  great  one  in  recognition. 
She  had  been  writing  stories  for  various  weeklies,  and  for 
these  she  received  from  five  to  ten  dollars  each. 

Miss  Alcott  headed  her  diary  for  1 860  "  A  year  of  good 
luck."  Her  father,  whose  life  had  been  a  financial  failure 
so  far,  was  appointed  superintendent  of  schools  for  the 
town  of  Concord.  This  was  a  position  which  was  very 
congenial  to  him,  and  it  afforded  him  a  small  income. 
Miss  Alcott  herself  was  doing  better  work  and  receiving 
higher  compensation,  while  at  the  same  time  she  was  grow 
ing  in  reputation.  During  this  year  she  began  "  Moods," 
her  first  novel.  It  was  in  this  year  that  her  sister  Anna 
was  happily  married. 

Miss  Alcott  was  not  a  scholar,  nor  was  she  a  systematic 
reader,  but  she  read  widely  and  with  intelligent  apprecia 
tion.  Her  books  are  not  popular  and  successful  because 
of  her  literary  ability,  but  because  of  her  skill  in  making 
use  of  her  own  experiences  and  in  adding  to  these  her  close 
observation  of  the  lives  of  others.  Her  sister  Anna  and  her 
brother-in-law  appear  as  the  hero  and  heroine  of  "A  Modern 
Cinderella,"  and  are  also  found  in  "Little  Women"  and 
"Jo's  Boys."  She  probably  portrays  her  own  nature,  as  she 
understands  it,  in  the  character  of  Sylvia  in  "  Moods."  In 
this  connection  the  following  from  her  journal  is  of  interest : 

I  think  disappointment  must  be  good  for  me,  I  get  so  much  of  it ; 
and  the  constant  thumping  Fate  gives  me  may  be  a  mellowing  process, 
so  I  shall  be  a  ripe  and  sweet  old  pippin  before  I  die. 

In  1862,  when  thirty  years  of  age,  Miss  Alcott  went  to 
Georgetown  as  an  army  nurse,  but  proved  unequal  to  the 


LOUISA  M.  ALCOTT  107 

work.  In  a  short  time  she  was  taken  down  with  typhoid 
fever  and  came  near  dying.  She  was  never  so  well  after 
wards,  though  all  her  important  literary  work  was  done  later. 
Her  vivid  description  of  daily  life  in  the  hospital  attracted 
much  attention,  and  she  gave  the  story  in  a  most  effective 
way  in  "  Hospital  Sketches,"  her  first  real  literary  success. 
The  book  was  written  at  a  time  when  every  one  was  anxious 
to  learn  as  much  as  possible  of  all  the  phases  of  army  life 
and  when  the  story  of  the  sufferings  of  our  soldiers  touched 
every  heart.  The  book  was  exceedingly  popular.  Previous 
to  this  she  had  experienced  much  difficulty  in  securing  a 
publisher,  but  from  this  time  on  several  publishers  were 
constantly  contending  for  her  stories,  and  she  was  unable 
to  write  enough  to  meet  their  demands. 

In  1865  she  went  to  Europe  as  companion  to  an  invalid 
lady.  While  abroad  she  met  a  young  Polish  lad  in  whom 
she  became  much  interested.  He  was  the  original  of 
Laurie  in  "  Little  Women."  On  her  return  she  was 
asked  by  Roberts  Brothers  to  write  a  book  for  girls.  She 
began  the  work  without  enthusiasm  and  did  not  regard  it 
as  a  success  when  it  was  finished,  yet  "Little  Women" 
is  beyond  all  question  Miss  Alcott's  masterpiece.  On 
receiving  the  first  copy  she  said  : 

It  reads  better  than  I  expected.  We  really  lived  most  of  it,  and 
if  it  succeeds  that  will  be  the  reason  of  it. 

It  is  now  thirty-five  years  since  the  book  appeared,  and  it 
is  still  the  most  popular  girls'  book  that  has  been  written 
in  this  country.  It  is  published  in  England  as  well,  and 
has  been  translated  into  several  foreign  languages,  being 
everywhere  popular. 


108  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

At  this  time  she  was  receiving  $500  a  year  for  the  use 
of  her  name  and  a  little  editorial  work  on  Merry  s  Museum, 
$20  apiece  for  two  short  stories  each  month  for  the  Youth's 
Companion,  and  from  $50  to  $100  an  article  from  other 
sources.  She  had  become  financially  independent.  The 
dream  of  being  able  to  care  for  her  loved  ones  had  been 
realized.  She  says  : 

For  years  we  have  not  been  so  comfortable.  May  and  I  both 
earning.  Anna  has  her  good  John  to  lean  on.  The  old  people  in  a 
cozy  home  of  our  own. 

The  success  of  "Hospital  Sketches"  and  the  continued 
receipts  from  "  Little  Women  "  enabled  Miss  Alcott  to  take 
a  second  trip  to  Europe.  While  there  she  wrote : 

No  news  save  through  N.,  who  yesterday  sent  me  a  nice  letter  with 
July  account  of  $6212,  a  neat  little  sum  for  "the  Alcotts  who  can't 
make  money."  With  $10,000  well  invested  and  more  coming  in  all 
the  time,  I  think  we  may  venture  to  enjoy  ourselves,  after  the  hard 
times  we  have  all  had. 

One  result  of  this  trip  to  Europe  was  the  publication  of 
"Shawl  Straps."  Miss  Alcott  herself  was  the  old  lady 
of  "  Shawl  Straps  "  and  the  Polly  of  the  "  Old-Fashioned 

Girl." 

In  1872  Miss  Alcott  wrote  "Work,"  which  first  appeared 
as  a  serial  in  the  Christian  Union.  For  this  she  received 
$3000.  Earlier  in  the  year,  just  after  returning  from 
Europe,  she  writes  : 

Home,  and  begin  a  new  task.  Twenty  years  ago  I  resolved  to 
make  the  family  independent  if  I  could.  At  forty  that  is  done. 
Debts  all  paid,  even  the  outlawed  ones,  and  we  have  enough  to  be 
comfortable.  It  has  cost  me  my  health,  perhaps,  but  as  I  still  live, 
there  is  more  for  me  to  do,  I  suppose. 


LOUISA  M.  ALCOTT 


109 


It  is  sad  to  think  that  success  came  to  Miss  Alcott  after 
she  was  in  a  large  degree  unable  to  enjoy  it  on  account  of 
illness.  She  says : 

When  I  had  the  youth  I  had  no  money  ;  now  I  have  the  money  I 
have  no  time ;  if  I  ever  do  I  shall  have  no  health  to  enjoy  life. 

Her  kindly  feeling  for  others,  always  prominent,  finds 
expression  as  follows  : 

Roberts  Brothers  paid  me  $2022  for  books.  S.  E.  S.  invested 
most  of  it  with  the  $1000  F.  sent.  Gave  C.  M.  #100, — a  thank 
offering  for  my  success.  I  like  to  help  the  class  of  "  silent  poor"  to 
which  we  belonged  for  so  many  years,  —  needy,  but  respectable,  and 
forgotten  because  too  proud  to  beg.  Work  is  difficult  to  find  for 
such  people,  and  life  made  very  hard  for  want  of  a  little  money. 

Miss  Alcott  died  March  6,  1888,  mourned  by  many  and 
sincere  friends.  Through  hundreds  of  short  stories,  as  a 
writer  for  St.  Nicholas  and  the  Youth's  Companion,  as  the 
author  of  many  volumes,  she  was  loved  by  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  American  boys  and  girls.  "  Little  Women" 
is  her  great  work.  Among  the  most  noted  of  her  other 
books  are  "Little  Men,"  "Work,"  "Hospital  Sketches," 
"  Old-Fashioned  Girl,"  and  "  Shawl  Straps."  More  than  a 
million  copies  of  her  books  were  sold,  and  not  less  than 
$200,000  was  paid  her  as  royalty,  a  large  part  of  which 
was  used  in  adding  to  the  happiness  and  comfort  of  others. 


Alexander  H.  Stephens 


no 


ALEXANDER   H.    STEPHENS 

1812-1883 

Ax  the  close  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution  a  certain 
Captain  Stephens  of  the  patriot  army  found  himself  almost 
penniless.  He  had  been  one  of  the  Jacobites  who  fled  from 
England  to  America,  and  had  taken  part  in  the  French  and 
Indian  War  as  well  as  in  the  later  conflict.  He  settled  in 
what  is  now  Taliaferro  County,  Georgia,  and  brought  up  a 
family  of  eight  children.  One  of  his  sons  became  a  school 
teacher,  and  with  his  earnings  purchased  a  farm  of  one 
hundred  acres,  where  on  February  n,  1812,  Alexander  H. 
Stephens  was  born. 

The  boy  was  weak  and  delicate  from  his  birth.  His 
father  was  very  poor,  and  from  his  earliest  childhood  Alex 
ander  had  to  work,  doing  whatever  his  tender  years  and 
frail  body  would  permit.  He  had  little  opportunity  for 
acquiring  an  education,  partly  because  he  must  work,  but 
chiefly  because  there  were  no  schools  save  what  were  known 
as  "  field  schools,"  which  were  usually  presided  over  by  very 
inefficient  teachers.  Under  such  circumstances  the  weak 
and  sickly  young  Stephens,  as  a  matter  of  course,  failed  to 
acquire  much  of  an  education.  He  worked  in  the  field, 
the  garden,  and  the  kitchen.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  six 
teenth  year  he  had  little  acquaintance  with  books.  But  dur 
ing  this  time  he  had  gained  a  practical  knowledge,  and  had 


112  SOME   SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

passed  through  experiences  that  trained  and  disciplined  him 
and  prepared  him  for  the  struggles  that  were  to  come. 

Cast  upon  his  own  resources  while  still  a  boy,  he  learned 
to  endure  pain  and  to  fight  against  bodily  weakness,  and 
he  acquired  a  strength  of  purpose  and  a  determination  to 
resist  wrong  beyond  that  which  comes  to  many  even  at 
maturity.  In  his  journal,  written  in  later  years,  he  says  of 
the  death  of  his  father : 

I  was  young,  without  experience,  knew  nothing  of  men  or  their 
dealings ;  and  when  I  stood  by  his  bedside  and  saw  him  breathe  his 
last,  and  with  that  last  breath  my  last  hope  expire,  such  a  flood  of 
grief  rushed  into  my  heart  as  almost  to  burst  it.  No  language  can 
tell  the  deep  anguish  that  filled  a  heart  so  young ;  the  earth,  grass, 
trees,  sky,  everything,  looked  dreary ;  life  seemed  not  worth  living, 
and  I  longed  to  take  my  peaceful  sleep  by  my  father's  side. 

After  the  death  of  his  father  young  Stephens  went  to 
live  with  an  uncle.  He  attended  school  and  made  very 
rapid  progress ;  he  also  went  to  a  Sunday  school,  where  his 
unusual  ability  attracted  the  attention  of  two  gentlemen 
connected  with  the  school,  as  well  as  that  of  the  minister. 
These  gentlemen  thought  he  might  in  time  become  a 
preacher,  and  so  resolved  to  send  him  to  the  University 
of  Georgia.  Not  knowing  their  purpose  the  young  man 
gladly  accepted  the  opportunity. 

In  later  years  he  passed  the  favor  on  to  others.  He 
repaid  those  who  educated  him,  and  in  the  course  of  his 
life  sent  about  thirty  young  men  through  college.  In 
regard  to  these  he  once  wrote  to  an  inquiring  friend  : 

About  one  third  of  these  I  have  taken  from  the  stump  and  put 
through  college.  The  other  two  thirds  I  assisted  to  graduation,  most 
of  them  at  a  medical  college.  Out  of  the  whole  number  only  three 
have  failed  to  refund  the  money.  The  three  I  have  alluded  to  are,  I 


ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS  1 1  3 

think,  scamps,  except  perhaps  one.  Nine  of  the  number  I  assisted 
are  dead;  five  of  these  died  before  refunding — two  while  at  school. 
Only  four  of  the  number  studied  law.  Six  are  preachers  —  four 
Baptists,  one  Presbyterian,  and  one  Methodist.  One  of  them  is  (or 
was  when  last  heard  from)  a  man  of  distinction  in  Tennessee  —  a 
professor  and  an  author.  Another  is  at  the  head  of  a  high  school  in 
Mississippi,  and  another  at  the  head  of  a  high  school  in  Georgia. 
Take  the  whole  lot,  all  in  all,  I  think  very  well  of  them.  The  per 
cent  of  black  sheep  in  the  flock  is  small  —  not  more  than  one  in  twelve, 
or  thereabouts.  Of  the  number  I  assisted  in  getting  medical  diplomas, 
there  are  now  living  in  the  state  six,  all  clever  physicians  of  good 
standing.  Two  of  them  died  some  years  ago. 

In  one  way  and  another  Mr.  Stephens  assisted  more  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  young  men  in  getting  an  education. 
Of  his  college  life  Stephens  wrote : 

During  the  four  years  that  I  spent  at  college  I  was  never  absent 
from  roll  call  without  a  good  excuse,  was  never  fined,  and,  to  the  best 
of  my  belief,  never  had  a  demerit  marked  against  me  in  college,  or  in 
the  society  —  the  Phi  Kappa  —  to  which  I  belonged.  Not  a  word  of 
censure,  or  even  reproof,  was  ever  addressed  to  me  by  professor  or 
tutor  ;  and,  while  I  was  on  good  terms  with  the  faculty,  I  was  not 
quite  as  good  with  the  boys.  .  .  .  They  were  by  far  the  happiest 
days  of  my  life. 

Mr.  Stephens  was  graduated  with  the  highest  honors  of 
his  class.  He  was  very  poor,  having  hardly  a  penny  in  the 
world,  so  he  gratefully  accepted  an  offer  to  teach  a  high 
school  at  Madison,  in  his  native  state.  He  taught  for  a 
time,  but  found  that  for  him  teaching  was  not  the  road  to 
success  and  decided  to  study  law.  He  had  saved  enough 
to  support  him  for  three  months  if  he  exercised  the  greatest 
economy,  and  he  determined  to  complete  his  law  studies  in 
that  time  and  to  take  his  examinations  at  the  end  of  it.  He 
succeeded  in  his  efforts. 


114  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

One  of  his  earliest  cases  made  him  famous  throughout 
a  large  section  of  the  state.  It  was  a  suit  by  a  mother  to 
retain  the  possession  of  her  child,  whose  guardian,  its  grand 
father,  claimed  it.  The  counsel  for  the  grandfather  was  a 
lawyer  of  wide  reputation.  Stephens  prepared  himself  with 
care,  and  his  great  gift  of  eloquence  was  used  to  the  best 
advantage.  He  appealed  directly  to  the  natural  sympathy 
for  the  mother,  but  he  stirred  a  no  less  natural  sympathy 
for  a  young,  inexperienced  lawyer,  slight  and  delicate,  pitted 
against  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  experienced  men  in  the 
state.  Stephens'  address  is  said  to  have  been  remarkable 
both  as  a  legal  argument  and  as  an  eloquent  appeal  to  the 
sympathies  of  the  jury  and  the  court.  Women  wept  and 
strong  men  were  moved.  The  case  was  won. 

This  established  his  fame  as  a  lawyer,  and  from  that  time 
on  he  never  lacked  clients.  He  devoted  himself  to  the 
practice  of  law  till  1836,  when  he  became  a  candidate  for 
the  legislature.  He  was  a  Whig,  but  very  independent  in 
his  political  action.  He  was  opposed  by  many  strong  and 
influential  men,  but  his  popularity  with  the  people  secured 
his  election.  For  several  years  he  served  in  the  legislature, 
part  of  the  time  in  the  lower  and  for  a  while  in  the  upper 
House.  In  1843  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the  congressional 
delegation  of  his  state  and  he  received  the  Whig  nomina 
tion.  His  opponent  was  James  H.  Starke,  one  of  the  best 
known  Democrats  in  the  South.  In  accordance  with  the 
custom  of  the  time,  young  Stephens  met  his  opponent  in 
joint  discussion,  traveling  all  over  the  state.  The  result 
was  the  triumphant  election  of  Stephens. 

The  first  speech  he  made  in  Congress  was  characteristic 
of  him.  Members  of  Congress  had  been  elected  on  a 


ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS  1 1  5 

general  ticket,  and  the  legislature  of  Georgia  had  refused 
to  divide  the  state  into  districts  in  accordance  with  the 
congressional  requirement.  Having  been  elected  on  a 
general  ticket,  it  was  held  by  many  prominent  members 
of  the  House  that  he  was  not  entitled  to  his  seat.  In  the 
discussion  that  followed  Mr.  Stephens  actually  took  sides 
with  those  who  were  trying  to  unseat  him,  and  made  a  strong 
speech  for  the  district  system.  A  majority  of  the  House, 
however,  decided  that  the  Georgia  members  had  been  legally 
elected,  and  Mr.  Stephens  retained  his  seat.  He  served 
seven  terms  in  Congress  before  the  war  and  five  after  it. 

In  1866  Mr.  Stephens  was  elected  to  the  United  States 
Senate,  but  was  refused  his  seat  because  the  reconstruction 
acts  had  not  been  fully  complied  with.  An  illustration  of 
the  independence  of  Mr.  Stephens  is  seen  in  his  action  in 
supporting  Mr.  Winthrop  of  Massachusetts  for  Speaker 
when  the  contest  was  between  Winthrop  and  Vinton  of 
Ohio,  and  he  knew  that  his  constituents  and  nearly  the 
whole  South  were  opposed  to  the  Massachusetts  man. 

We  know  more  of  Alexander  Stephens,  his  real  life  and 
thought,  through  his  correspondence  with  his  half-brother, 
Linton  Stephens,  than  in  any  other  way.  They  maintained 
a  long,  voluminous,  and  sympathetic  correspondence.  When 
Stephens  was  in  sorrow  he  wrote  to  his  brother  Linton  for 
comfort ;  when  he  was  happy  he  wished  to  share  his  happi 
ness  with  him.  Thousands  of  letters  passed  between  them. 
They  discussed  politics,  religion,  social  life,  and  every  ques 
tion  in  which  either  had  an  interest.  Writing  to  his  brother 
once  he  made  use  of  the  following  language  : 

I  am  getting  tired  of  this  place,  and  am  beginning  to  think  that 
Congress  is  the  last  place  that  a  man  of  honor  and  honorable  ambition 


Il6  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

should  aspire  to.  There  is  a  recklessness  of  purpose  here  perfectly 
disgusting  and  almost  alarming.  What  will  become  of  our  country 
and  institutions  I  do  not  know.  The  signs  of  the  times  to  me  are 
ominous  of  evil.  I  have  ceased  to  take  much  interest  in  what  is  done 
in  the  House.  All  is  done  by  party  will  and  for  party  effect. 

His  affection  for  his  brother  is  shown  by  the  following 
extract  from  a  letter,  after  the  death  of  Linton  Stephens, 
to  his  friend  Richard  Malcolm  Johnston : 

The  bitterest  pang  I  have  is  that  all  the  world  to  me  is  now  desolate. 
I  have  no  one  to  whom  I  can  talk  and  unbosom  my  woes.  Hereto 
fore,  whenever  heavy  afflictions  of  any  sort  came  upon  me,  for  thirty 
years  or  more,  he  was  my  prop  and  stay.  To  him  my  thoughts  con 
stantly  turned  for  relief  and  comfort.  Now  that  prop  and  stay  is 
gone.  I  am  indeed  most  miserable.  All  around  me  is  dark,  gloomy, 
cheerless,  hopeless. 

During  Mr.  Stephens'  congressional  service  the  question 
of  the  acquisition  of  California  and  Mexico  as  United  States 
territories  came  up,  and  he  took  a  very  prominent  part  in 
opposition  to  such  acquisition,  against  the  wishes  of  many 
of  his  party  friends.  Judge  Cone,  one  of  the  leading  poli 
ticians  of  Georgia,  was  exceedingly  bitter  and  was  reported 
to  have  said  that  Stephens  was  a  traitor  to  his  country. 
Much  controversy  grew  out  of  this,  which  culminated  in  a 
personal  attack  upon  Stephens  by  Cone,  who  was  a  strong 
and  powerful  man.  Stephens  was  stabbed  eighteen  times, 
one  cut  reaching  to  within  a  sixteenth  of  an  inch  of  his 
heart.  The  doctors  declared  that  he  would  surely  die,  but 
he  recovered,  though  one  hand  was  rendered  nearly  useless 
from  the  cuts  received.  Stephens  refused  to  prosecute 
Cone,  who  escaped  with  a  fine  of  $1000.  Stephens  never 
spoke  bitterly  of  Cone.  On  one  occasion  when  he  was 


ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS  117 

writing  with  much  difficulty  he  said  :  "  Poor  Cone  !  I  'm 
sure  he  'd  be  sorry  if  he  knew  what  trouble  I  have  to 
write  with  these  stiff  fingers  of  mine." 

Stephens  was  one  of  the  first  to  fear  the  result  of  the 
agitation  of  the  slavery  question,  and  although  he  believed 
in  the  permanence  of  the  institution,  he  never  lost  an 
opportunity  to  counsel  moderation  and  forbearance. 

After  the  election  of  1 860  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  to  Stephens 
asking  for  a  copy  of  a  speech  that  he  had  made.  In  his 
reply  Mr.  Stephens  concluded  with  these  words:  "The 
country  is  certainly  in  great  peril,  and  no  man  ever  had 
heavier  or  greater  responsibilities  than  you  have  in  the 
present  momentous  crisis." 

Mr.  Lincoln  replied  as  follows,  the  letter  not  being  made 
public  till  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  death  : 

[For  your  own  eye  only.] 

My  dear  Sir :  Your  very  obliging  answer  to  my  short  note  is  just 
received,  for  which  please  accept  my  thanks.  I  fully  appreciate  the 
present  peril  the  country  is  in,  and  the  weight  of  responsibility  on 
me.  Do  the  people  of  the  South  really  entertain  fears  that  a 
Republican  administration  would  directly  or  indirectly  interfere  with 
the  slaves,  or  with  them  about  the  slaves?  If  they  do,  I  wish  to 
assure  you,  as  once  a  friend,  and  still,  I  hope,  not  an  enemy,  that 
there  is  no  cause  for  such  fears.  The  South  would  be  in  no  more 
danger  in  this  respect  than  it  was  in  the  days  of  Washington.  I 
suppose,  however,  that  does  not  meet  the  case.  You  think  slavery 
is  right  and  ought  to  be  extended,  while  we  think  it  is  wrong  and 
ought  to  be  abolished.  That,  I  suppose,  is  the  rub.  It  is  certainly 
the  only  substantial  difference  between  us. 

Very  truly  yours, 

A.  LINCOLN. 
To  the  Hon.  Alexander  H.  Stephens. 


Il8  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

Mr.  Stephens  labored  hard  in  public  and  in  private  to 
prevent  secession,  but  without  success.  Like  most  men  of 
the  South  he  held  himself  bound  by  the  action  of  his  state 
and  reluctantly  joined  in  the  effort  for  disunion.  It  was 
not  his  nature  to  do  anything  in  a  half-hearted  way,  and 
when  his  state  voted  for  secession  he  put  forth  his  best 
efforts  for  the  success  of  the  cause  to  which  he  felt  himself 
in  honor  bound. 

He  was  chosen  vice  president  of  the  Confederacy  and 
might  have  been  its  president  had  he  felt  physically  able  to 
bear  the  burden  of  that  office.  Of  the  result  of  that  long 
and  bitter  contest  this  is  no  place  to  speak. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  Mr.  Stephens  again  served  in 
Congress,  making  a  faithful  and  wise  representative.  He 
wrote  a  history  of  the  Civil  War.  To  the  end  his  life  was 
an  active  one.  For  a  time  he  edited  a  newspaper  at  Atlanta. 
He  opposed  the  election  of  Greeley,  for  which  he  was  bitterly 
denounced  by  Democrats,  North  and  South.  In  1882  he 
was  elected  governor  of  Georgia,  but  died  before  the  close 
of  his  term  of  office.  His  funeral  was  attended  by  more 
than  fifty  thousand  people.  His  memory  was  honored  by 
the  adjournment  of  courts  and  public  councils  and  by  the 
passage  of  resolutions  throughout  Georgia  and  in  many 
towns  and  cities  in  other  states. 

Alexander  H.  Stephens  had  faults,  as  who  has  not. 
He  made  some  mistakes,  as  all  mortals  will.  He  seemed 
at  times  to  be  vacillating,  but  it  must  be  said  that  no 
man  ever  knew  him  well  who  failed  to  love  him.  He 
struggled  with  infirmities  that  would  have  crushed  most 
men.  He  was  generous  and  forgiving.  He  was  a  bene 
factor  to  many,  and  never  intentionally  did  harm  to  any 


ALEXANDER   H.   STEPHENS  119 

one.     His  is  a  life  that  calls  for  much  commendation  and 
little  reproof. 

A  careful  study  of  the  life  of  Mr.  Stephens  will  be  in 
many  ways  profitable.  We  will  come  to  know  a  really 
great  and  good  man  who  won  success  in  spite  of  many 
obstacles  and  be  stimulated  thereby.  We  will  become 
better  acquainted  with  an  important  period  of  our  his 
tory  and  learn  to  understand  better  than  some  of  us 
now  do  the  feelings  of  the  Southern  people  just  before 
and  during  the  Civil  War. 


Leland  Stanford 


120 


LELAND    STANFORD 

1824-1893 

LELAND  STANFORD  is  an  excellent  example  of  what  can 
be  accomplished  by  persistent  effort.  With  no  opportunities 
in  early  life  beyond  what  most  boys  may  have,  he  made  him 
self  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  development  of  our  country 
and  its  resources. 

The  Stan  fords  are  of  English  extraction.  One  of  the 
family  settled  in  the  Mohawk  Valley  as  early  as  1720,  and 
from  him  Leland  Stanford  was  descended.  Leland's  father 
was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  but  came  to  New  York  when 
he  was  a  boy.  Leland  was  born  at  Watervliet,  New  York, 
March  9,  1824.  His  father  was  an  influential  farmer,  well 
read  for  the  times  and  interested  in  the  welfare  of  schools 
and  churches.  Leland's  mother  was  a  woman  of  good  judg 
ment,  strong  convictions,  and  very  fond  of  her  children,  of 
whom  there  were  eight,  seven  sons  and  one  daughter. 

Leland,  the  fourth  son,  was  a  good  worker  on  the  farm, 
though  he  loved  books  better  than  farming.  He  was  ener 
getic,  quick-witted,  and  cheerful.  He  was  eager  to  obtain 
a  good  education,  and  his  parents  were  as  eager  as  he,  but 
the  family  was  large  and  the  income  small,  and  it  did  not 
seem  possible  that  they  could  send  a  son  to  college. 

From  boyhood  Leland  had  an  eye  for  business.  When 
he  was  only  six  years  old  he  and  his  brothers  were  required 

121 


122  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

to  dig  the  horse-radish  out  of  an  old  garden  which  it  had 
overrun.  When  the  work  was  finished  Leland  proposed 
that  the  roots  should  be  washed  and  taken  to  Schenectady 
for  sale.  This  was  done  and  Leland's  share  of  the  proceeds 
was  twenty-five  cents.  Two  years  later  chestnuts  were  very 
plentiful,  and  Leland  suggested  that  the  brothers  gather 
all  that  they  could  and  hold  them  till  the  price  was  good. 
They  realized  twenty-five  dollars  from  this  work.  Their 
father  encouraged  his  boys  in  such  enterprises,  believing  it 
a  good  preparation  for  the  future  business  of  life. 

At  fifteen  years  of  age  Leland  was  large  and  strong  and 
able  to  do  a  man's  work  on  the  farm.  When  he  was  eight 
een  his  father  purchased  an  adjoining  tract  of  woodland 
and  told  him  that  if  he  would  clear  the  land  he  might  have 
the  wood  and  timber.  Tall,  vigorous,  powerful,  and  eager 
to  earn  money  so  that  he  might  secure  a  better  education, 
he  began  the  task.  So  hard  did  he  work  and  so  skillfully  did 
he  manage  that  when  the  land  was  cleared  and  all  expenses 
were  met  he  had  left  for  himself  the  sum  of  $2600.  He 
used  some  of  this  money  to  pay  his  tuition  at  an  academy 
at  Clinton,  New  York.  He  disliked  Greek  and  Latin,  but 
was  interested  in  science,  particularly  in  chemistry  and 
geology.  He  was  a  great  reader  and  especially  liked  to 
read  the  newspapers. 

He  had  long  been  anxious  to  study  law,  and  the  way  was 
now  clear.  After  leaving  the  academy  he  entered  the  office 
of  Wheaton,  Doolittle,  and  Hadley,  of  Albany,  and  studied 
with  them  for  three  years.  He  attended  all  lectures  that 
were  given  within  his  reach,  and  liked  to  discuss  progress 
ive  subjects.  Later  in  life  he  studied  sociological  sub 
jects,  reading  such  authors  as  Herbert  Spencer  and  John 


LELAND  STANFORD  123 

Stuart  Mill.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1849.  This 
was  the  year  of  the  great  excitement  over  the  discovery  of 
gold  in  California.  Three  of  his  brothers  went  to  the  gold 
fields  and  urged  him  to  go  with  them,  but  instead  he  went 
to  Port  Washington,  Wisconsin,  where  he  opened  a  law 
office.  He  was  prosperous,  earning  $1260  the  first  year. 
A  year  later  he  married  Miss  Jane  Lathrop  of  Albany. 
He  did  not  find  the  life  of  a  country  lawyer  very  congenial, 
yet  very  likely  he  would  have  spent  his  life  there  had  not 
his  house,  office,  and  library  been  destroyed  by  fire  in  the 
following  year.  This  apparent  misfortune  was  a  benefit 
not  only  to  him  but  to  his  country. 

His  wife  returned  to  Albany  to  care  for  an  invalid  father, 
and  Mr.  Stanford  joined  his  brothers  in  California.  For 
four  years  he  had  charge  of  a  branch  store  among  the 
miners  in  Placer  County,  besides  being  engaged  in  mining. 
He  shirked  no  labor  and  shunned  no  privation.  In  his 
later  life  he  spoke  of  these  early  days  as  follows : 

The  true  history  of  the  Argonauts  of  the  nineteenth  century  has  to 
be  written.  They  had  no  Jason  to  lead  them,  no  oracles  to  prophesy 
success,  nor  enchantments  to  avert  dangers ;  but,  like  self-reliant 
Americans,  they  pressed  forward  to  the  land  of  promise,  and  traveled 
thousands  of  miles  when  the  Greek  heroes  traveled  hundreds.  They 
went  by  ship  and  by  wagon,  on  horseback  and  on  foot,  —  a  mighty 
army,  passing  over  mountains  and  deserts,  enduring  privations  and 
sickness ;  they  were  the  creators  of  a  commonwealth,  the  builders 
of  states. 

While  in  California  Mr.  Stanford  was  elected  justice  of 
the  peace,  and  though  he  had  to  deal  with  a  turbulent 
population,  he  was  universally  respected  and  not  one  of  his 
decisions  was  ever  appealed  from.  He  was  energetic  and 


124  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

a  hard  worker,  but  pleasant  and  kindly  to  all,  and  especially 
thoughtful  for  those  who  had  been  less  fortunate  than  him 
self.  He  studied  his  business  carefully  and  made  himself 
thoroughly  familiar  with  the  statistics  of  trade,  the  tariff 
laws,  means  of  transportation,  markets,  and  all  matters  that 
pertained  to  the  successful  prosecution  of  the  work  he  had 
in  hand.  He  prospered  to  such  an  extent  that  within  three 
years  he  bought  out  his  brothers  and  went  east  to  bring 
his  wife  to  the  Pacific  coast. 

Mr.  Stanford  was  deeply  interested  in  the  Republican 
party  and  was  one  of  its  founders.  He  was  its  first  can 
didate  for  state  treasurer  in  California,  but  was  defeated, 
as  his  party  was  hopelessly  in  the  minority.  Three  years 
later  he  was  a  candidate  for  governor,  with  like  result  for 
the  same  reason.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  convention 
that  nominated  Lincoln  and  worked  earnestly  for  his  suc 
cess.  He  did  more  than  any  other  man  to  keep  California 
in  the  Union  during  the  Civil  War.  James  G.  Blaine  said  : 

Jefferson  Davis  had  expected,  with  a  confidence  amounting  to 
certainty,  and  based,  it  is  believed,  on  personal  pledges,  that  the 
Pacific  coast,  if  it  did  not  actually  join  the  South,  would  be  disloyal 
to  the  Union,  and  would,  from  its  remoteness  and  its  superlative 
importance,  require  a  large  contingent  of  the  national  forces  to  hold 
it  in  subjection. 

That  this  was  not  the  case  was  due  very  largely  to  the 
efforts  of  Mr.  Stanford. 

In  1 86 1  Mr.  Stanford  reluctantly  consented  to  be  again 
a  candidate  for  governor.  He  received  about  six  times  as 
many  votes  as  had  been  given  him  two  years  before  and 
was  elected.  He  was  in  close  touch  with  the  administra 
tion  at  Washington,  and  though  there  was  at  first  much 


LELAND  STANFORD  125 

disloyalty  in  California,  he  had  at  the  end  of  his  term  of 
office  the  satisfaction  of  feeling  that  no  state  in  the  Union 
was  more  thoroughly  loyal. 

Under  the  management  of  Governor  Stanford  the  state 
indebtedness  was  reduced  one  half,  many  improvements 
were  made,  the  first  normal  school  was  built,  and  a  state 
militia  organized. 

Mr.  Stanford  declined  a  renomination  for  the  governorship 
because  he  wished  to  devote  himself  to  building  a  railroad 
across  the  continent.  At  that  time  it  was  said  that  the  idea 
of  building  a  railroad  across  the  snow-capped  Sierras  was 
"  a  wild  scheme  of  visionary  cranks,"  and  indeed  it  seemed  so. 
There  were  great  heights  to  be  scaled,  wide,  waterless  deserts 
to  be  crossed,  savage  Indians  to  be  contended  with,  and  vast 
sums  of  money  to  be  raised.  But  Leland  Stanford  was  no 
visionary.  No  one  knew  better  than  he  the  difficulties  on 
the  one  hand  nor  the  future  of  such  a  road  on  the  other. 

Theodore  J.  Judah,  a  railroad  engineer,  C.  P.  Huntington 
and  his  partner  Mark  Hopkins,  Charles  Crocker,  and  others 
joined  with  Mr.  Stanford  in  this  great  enterprise,  the  suc 
cess  of  which  meant  so  much  to  him,  to  them,  to  California, 
and  to  the  Union.  Mr.  Stanford  was  chosen  president ; 
Mr.  Huntington,  vice  president ;  Mark  Hopkins,  treasurer  ; 
James  Bailey,  secretary;  and  T.  J.  Judah,  chief  engineer. 

At  this  time  neither  Mr.  Stanford  nor  his  associates  had 
great  wealth,  but  they  had  faith,  energy,  and  force  of  charac 
ter.  They  sought  and  obtained  aid  from  Congress.  They 
received  nearly  nine  millions  of  acres  of  land  in  alternate 
sections  along  the  line  of  their  road,  and  from  $16,000  to 
$48,000  a  mile  for  the  road  built,  the  amount  paid  varying 
with  the  difficulty  of  construction.  The  enterprise  was  a 


126  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

good  one  for  the  government,  as  it  opened  up  vast  tracts  for 
settlement  and  greatly  lessened  the  cost  of  transportation 
of  government  supplies  ;  and  it  doubtless  so  bound  together 
the  East  and  the  West  as  to  prevent  a  secession  of  the  Pacific 
states.  The  road  was  begun  in  1 863  and  completed  in  1 869. 
At  times  failure  seemed  certain.  The  work  was  a  great 
strain  on  those  who  had  it  in  charge,  and  only  Mr.  Stanford 
never  lost  faith.  His  iron  will  never  yielded. 

With  the  completion  of  this  road  Mr.  Stanford  turned 
his  attention  elsewhere,  becoming  interested  in  other  roads, 
in  a  line  of  steamships  from  San  Francisco  to  China,  street 
railways,  woolen  mills,  and  the  manufacture  of  sugar.  He 
purchased  large  tracts  of  land,  in  all  nearly  100,000  acres. 
He  bought  over  8000  acres  at  Palo  Alto,  where  he  made 
his  summer  home.  Here  he  sought  to  plant  every  variety 
of  tree  that  would  grow  in  California.  Thousands  were  set 
out  each  year.  He  was  fond  of  animals  and  especially  so 
of  horses,  his  establishment  at  Palo  Alto  for  raising  horses 
being  the  largest  in  the  world.  He  spent  $40,000  on 
experiments  in  instantaneous  photography  of  horses,  and 
published  a  book  entitled  "The  Horse  in  Motion." 

In  1885  Mr.  Stanford  was  elected  to  the  United  States 
Senate  and  was  reflected  at  the  close  of  his  term.  His 
most  notable  act  was  the  introduction  and  advocacy  of  the 
Land- Loan  Bill,  which  provided  that  the  government  should 
lend  money  to  farmers,  to  half  the  value  of  their  farms,  on 
mortgages  bearing  two  per  cent  interest.  Whatever  may 
be  thought  of  the  wisdom  of  the  proposed  act  it  certainly 
was  evidence  of  a  philanthropic  spirit. 

The  Stanfords  were  greatly  beloved  in  Washington  for 
their  cordiality  and  generosity.  Every  asylum  and  charity 


LELAND   STANFORD  127 

hospital  in  Washington  was  remembered  by  them  every 
Christmas,  and  they  were  constantly  giving  to  all  chari 
table  and  philanthropic  objects.  They  gave  an  annual  din 
ner  to  the  Senate  pages,  and  both  then  and  at  Christmas 
gave  them  all  appropriate  gifts.  Each  winter  they  gave  a 
luncheon  to  the  telegraph  and  messenger  boys,  also  gifts 
of  money,  gloves,  etc. 

Mr.  Stanford  had  one  son,  named  for  him,  who  died  at 
Rome  in  his  sixteenth  year.     From  this  loss  Mr.  Stanford 


Leland  Stanford  University 

never  recovered.  The  young  man  was  tall,  handsome,  fond 
of  study,  ambitious  to  be  of  use  in  the  world,  and  of  great 
promise.  Mr.  Stanford  established  the  university  at  Palo 
Alto  in  his  son's  memory  and  named  it  for  him. 

Many  friends  had  urged  the  Stanfords  to  give  their 
money  for  some  other  purpose  than  that  of  education,  say 
ing  that  too  much  education  would  unfit  people  for  labor  ; 
but  Mr.  Stanford  thought  differently,  and  at  the  opening 
of  the  university,  speaking  for  himself  and  his  wife,  because 
she  had  been  his  active  co-worker,  said  : 

We  do  not  believe  there  can  be  any  superfluous  education.  As  a 
man  cannot  have  too  much  health  and  intelligence,  so  he  cannot  be 


128 


SOME   SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 


too  highly  educated.  Whether  in  the  discharge  of  responsible  or 
humble  duties,  he  will  ever  find  the  knowledge  he  has  acquired 
through  education  not  only  of  practical  assistance  to  him  but  a 
factor  in  his  personal  happiness  and  a  joy  forever. 

Mr.  Stanford's  kindly  spirit  was  shown  in  the  Senate  on 
the  occasion  of  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Lamar  for  associate 


University  Church,  Leland  Stanford  University 

justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  The  nomination  was 
opposed  by  many  because  Mr.  Lamar  had  taken  an  active 
part  against  the  United  States  during  the  Civil  War.  Mr. 
Stanford  said  : 

No  man  sympathized  more  sincerely  than  myself  with  the  cause  of 
the  Union,  or  deprecated  more  the  cause  of  the  South.  I  would  have 
given  fortune  and  life  to  have  defeated  that  cause.  But  the  war  has 
terminated,  and  what  this  country  needs  now  is  absolute  and  profound 
peace.  Lamar  was  a  representative  Southern  man  and  adhered  to 


LELAND  STANFORD  129 

the  convictions  of  his  boyhood  and  manhood.  There  can  never  be 
pacification  in  this  country  until  these  war  memories  are  obliterated 
by  the  action  of  the  executive  and  of  Congress. 

Mr.  Stanford  was  by  turns  farmer  boy,  lawyer,  railroad 
builder,  governor,  and  United  States  senator,  but  it  is 
because  of  his  generous  gifts  that  he  is  best  known  and 
will  be  longest  and  most  kindly  remembered.  And  the 
greatest  gift  of  all,  one  that  will  never  cease  to  be  a  power 
for  good,  is  the  university  founded  in  remembrance  of  his 
son,  an  institution  where  no  tuition  is  charged,  where  all 
who  will  and  who  are  properly  fitted  may  attend.  His 
magnificent  gifts  to  this  school,  nobly  supplemented  by 
those  of  his  wife,  make  it  the  most  richly  endowed  uni 
versity  in  America.  Who  can  estimate  the  value  of  a  life 
that  culminates  in  such  a  grand  work  ? 


Charles  Pratt 


CHARLES    PRATT 

1830-1891 

CHARLES  PRATT  was  born  at  Watertown,  Massachusetts, 
October  2,  1 830.  His  father,  Asa  Pratt,  had  a  family  of  ten 
children,  and  it  was  necessary  that  each  child  should  learn 
to  help  himself  as  soon  as  possible.  Charles  left  home  to 
work  for  a  near-by  farmer  when  he  was  only  ten  years  old. 
Here  he  worked  for  three  years,  going  to  school  for  three 
months  each  winter.  Although  he  was  not  strong  he  was 
very  ambitious,  and  when  only  thirteen  years  of  age  he  went 
to  Boston  and  worked  in  a  grocery.  After  spending  a  year 
here  he  went  to  Newton  and  learned  the  trade  of  a  machin 
ist.  All  this  time  he  was  as  economical  as  possible,  hoping 
to  save  enough  to  enable  him  to  get  a  better  education. 
At  length  he  was  able  to  pay  for  a  year's  tuition  at  Wil- 
braham  Academy,  where  he  lived  for  a  dollar  a  week. 

At  the  close  of  his  year  at  school  he  went  to  Boston  as 
clerk  in  a  paint  and  oil  store.  He  had  learned  some  things 
thoroughly,  among  others  to  rely  upon  himself,  to  utilize 
all  his  time,  and  to  be  exceedingly  economical.  All  his 
life  long  he  could  not  bear  to  see  anything  wasted,  time 
least  of  all. 

His  year  at  school  had  intensified,  instead  of  satisfying, 
his  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  in  Boston  he  could  have  access 
to  the  Public  Library,  where  he  spent  most  of  his  spare  time. 


132  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

At  twenty-one  years  of  age  he  went  to  New  York  and 
became  a  clerk  for  Schanck  and  Downing,  dealers  in  oil, 
paint,  and  glass.  Here,  as  always,  he  worked  hard.  It 
was  his  theory  of  life  that  work  should  be  both  a  duty  and 
a  pleasure,  and  he  fully  realized  his  theory.  Years  after 
wards,  when  he  was  very  wealthy,  he  said  : 

I  am  convinced  that  the  great  problem  we  are  trying  to  solve  is 
very  much  wrapped  up  in  the  thought  of  educating  people  to  find 
happiness  in  a  busy,  active  life,  and  that  the  occupation  of  the  hour 
is  of  more  importance  than  the  wages  received. 

After  working  three  years  for  Schanck  and  Downing,  he 
and  two  others  bought  out  the  business  and  established  the 
firm  of  Raynolds,  Devoe,  and  Pratt,  which  continued  for 
thirteen  years,  after  which  the  firm  was  divided  and  the  oil 
business  carried  on  by  Charles  Pratt  &  Co. 

When  the  oil  fields  of  Pennsylvania  began  to  be  developed 
Mr.  Pratt  was  one  of  the  first  to  see  the  possibilities  of  the 
petroleum  trade.  He  experimented  in  refining  the  oil  and 
succeeded  in  producing  what  he  called  "Pratt's  Astral  Oil," 
probably  the  best  on  the  market.  He  took  great  pride 
in  it  and  was  greatly  pleased  when  he  was  told  that  the 
Russian  convent  on  Mount  Tabor  was  lighted  with  Pratt 's 
Astral  Oil.  He  said  that  he  meant  to  see  that  the  stamp 
"  Pratt  "  should  be  as  good  as  the  stamp  of  the  mint.  For 
many  years  he  was  one  of  the  officers  of  the  Standard  Oil 
Company  and  a  large  shareholder  in  it.  Little  could  the 
delicate  ten-year-old  hired  boy  on  a  Massachusetts  farm 
have  dreamed  that  he  would  one  day  be  worth  his  millions, 
the  legitimate  fruit  of  his  own  industry,  enterprise,  and 
forethought. 


CHARLES  PRATT  133 

He  lived  simply,  took  no  pleasure  in  display,  and  had  no 
desire  for  a  fine  mansion.  His  home  was  to  him  the  best 
place  on  earth.  His  business,  his  home,  his  church,  and 
his  philanthropy  occupied  his  whole  life.  He  was  a  man 
of  few  words  and  of  great  self-control.  He  never  forgot 
that  he  had  been  a  poor  boy,  and  always  sympathized  with 
those  who  were  struggling  with  adverse  circumstances.  He 
had  no  faith  in  any  one  who  did  not  try  to  improve  himself. 
It  is  said  that  a  young  man  once  came  to  him  for  advice 
as  to  whether  or  not  he  should  go  west.  He  questioned 
the  young  man  as  to  how  he  used  his  time,  what  he  did 
before  and  after  business  hours,  and  finding  that  he  was 
doing  nothing  in  the  way  of  self-education,  said  to  him, 
"No;  don't  go  west.  They  don't  want  you." 


SOME  OF  CHARLES  PRATT'S  SAYINGS 

There  is  no  inherent  reason  why  man  should  consider  his  daily 
labor,  of  whatever  nature,  as  necessarily  disagreeable  and  burdensome. 
The  right  view  is  one  which  makes  work  a  delight,  a  source  of  real 
satisfaction  and  even  pleasure. 

The  greatest  humbug  in  the  world  is  the  idea  that  the  mere  pos 
session  of  money  can  make  any  man  happy.  I  never  got  any 
satisfaction  out  of  mine  until  I  began  to  do  good  with  it. 

The  giving  which  counts  is  the  giving  of  one's  self. 

A  knowledge  of  household  employments  is  thoroughly  consistent 
with  the  grace  and  dignity  and  true  womanliness  of  every  American 
girl. 

Home  is  the  center  from  which  the  life  of  the  nation  emanates  ; 
and  the  highest  product  of  modern  civilization  is  a  contented,  happy 
home. 


134  SOME   SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

There  is  nothing  under  God's  heaven  so  important  to  the  individ 
ual  as  to  acquire  the  power  to  earn  his  own  living  ;  to  be  able  to 
stand  alone  if  necessary ;  to  be  dependent  upon  no  one  ;  to  be 
indispensable  to  some  one. 

Whatever  I  have  done,  whatever  I  hope  to  do,  I  have  done 
trusting  in  the  Power  above. 

PRATT  INSTITUTE 

For  years  Mr.  Pratt  had  been  thinking  about  indus 
trial  education.  He  knew  that  the  great  majority  of  men 
and  women  must  struggle  for  a  livelihood,  and  he  believed 
that  every  one,  rich  or  poor,  should  know  how  to  be  self- 
supporting.  He  therefore  desired  to  found  an  institution 
that  would  aid  people  in  their  efforts  to  fit  themselves  to 
do  their  work  in  the  best  way.  He  sought  all  possible 
means  of  information  as  to  the  proper  course  to  pursue. 
He  traveled  largely  in  this  country,  corresponded  with  the 
heads  of  the  various  technical  and  industrial  schools,  and 
visited  England,  France,  Austria,  Switzerland,  and  Ger 
many  to  see  what  the  Old  World  was  doing  to  educate 
people  to  be  self-helpful. 

On  his  return  from  Europe  he  resolved  to  build  an  insti 
tute  where  any  one  who  wished  to  engage  in  "  mechanical, 
commercial,  or  artistic  pursuits  should  receive  theoretical 
and  practical  knowledge."  In  1885  he  began  the  erection 
of  a  building  in  Brooklyn.  He  provided  a  machine  shop, 
a  woodworking  shop,  a  metal-working  shop,  forge  and 
foundry  rooms.  A  building  for  bricklaying,  stone  carving, 
plumbing,  and  the  like  was  added.  Later  a  high-school 
building  was  erected.  There  is  also  an  art  department 
with  morning,  afternoon,  and  evening  classes.  There  are 


CHARLES  PRATT  135 

courses  in  drawing,  painting,  clay  modeling,  architectural 
and  mechanical  drawing,  designing,  wood  carving,  art  needle 
work,  and  domestic  science.  There  are  day  and  evening 
classes  in  phonography,  typewriting,  bookkeeping,  commer 
cial  law,  German,  Spanish,  and  vocal  music.  There  is  a 


Pratt  Institute 

kindergarten  department  with  a  training  class  for  teachers 
and  mothers.  As  many  as  twenty-eight  hundred  pupils 
have  been  enrolled  in  the  domestic  science  department  in 
a  single  year,  and  more  than  four  thousand  students  in  all 
are  receiving  instruction. 

Mr.  Pratt  had  found  the  Boston  Public  Library  so  helpful 
to  him  that  when  he  came  to  New  York  he  became  greatly 


136  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

interested  in  the  Mercantile  Library  of  that  city.  He  felt 
so  strongly  regarding  the  helpful  influence  of  good  books 
that  he  established  a  library  in  connection  with  his  Institute 
and  later  opened  a  school  for  librarians. 

During  his  lifetime  Mr.  Pratt  gave  $3,700,000  to  the 
Institute,  but  this  was  far  from  being  his  only  good  work. 
At  Greenpoint  he  built  a  large  apartment  house,  called  the 
"  Astral,"  which  is  rented  at  low  rates  to  workingmen  and 
the  proceeds  given  towards  the  support  of  the  Institute. 
In  connection  with  the  Astral  is  a  public  library,  which 
at  first  was  free  to  the  occupants  of  the  building  only, 
but  afterwards  was  made  free  to  all  residents  of  Green- 
point.  Over  the  fireplace  of  the  reading  room  of  the 
Astral  these  words  are  cut  in  stone :  "  Waste  neither  time 
nor  money." 

In  closing  his  last  address  at  the  Institute;  he  said : 

To  my  sons  and  co-trustees  who  will  have  this  work  to  carry  on 
when  I  am  gone  I  wish  to  say  a  word.  The  world  will  overestimate 
your  ability,  and  will  underestimate  the  value  of  your  work  ;  will  be 
exacting  of  every  promise  made  or  implied;  will  be  critical  of  your 
failings  ;  will  often  misjudge  your  motives  ;  and  will  hold  you  to  a 
strict  account  for  all  your  doings.  Many  pupils  will  make  demands, 
and  be  forgetful  of  your  service  to  them.  Ingratitude  will  often  be 
your  reward.  When  the  day  is  dark  and  full  of  discouragement  and 
difficulty,  you  will  need  to  look  on  the  other  side  of  the  picture,  which 
you  will  find  full  of  hope  and  gladness. 

Dr.  Cuyler  said  of  Mr.  Pratt  that  from  him  "innumer 
able  little  rills  of  benevolence  trickled  into  the  homes  of 
the  needy  and  the  hearts  of  the  straitened  and  suffering." 
He  gave  to  a  great  number  of  worthy  causes,  —  to  charity, 
to  education,  to  needy  and  struggling  churches.  He  died 


CHARLES   PRATT 


137 


while  at  work  in  his  New  York  office,  on  the  4th  of  May, 
1891.  Almost  the  last  words  Mr.  Pratt  wrote  were  these 
characteristic  ones,  "  I  feel  that  life  is  so  short  that  I  am 
not  satisfied  unless  I  do  each  day  the  best  I  can."  His 
last  act  was  to  sign  a  check  for  the  benefit  of  the  Brooklyn 
Bureau  of  Charities. 

A  beautiful  memorial  chapel  has  been  erected  by  his 
family  on  his  estate  at  Glen  Cove,  Long  Island,  but  com 
paratively  few  will  ever  see  it  or  know  of  it.  His  real 
monument  is  Pratt  Institute,  which  will  continue  to  be  of 
immeasurable  benefit  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States. 


Cornelius  Vanderbilt 


138 


CORNELIUS    VANDERBILT 

1794-1877 

CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
men  of  business  that  this  country  has  produced.  His  was 
a  constructive  work,  and  the  skill  required  to  construct  is 
always  greater  than  that  required  to  destroy.  It  is  said 
that  Mr.  Vanderbilt  originated  little,  but  that  he  had  a 
genius  for  improving  existing  things  and  for  foreseeing 
what  the  drift  of  business  would  be.  The  story  of  his  life 
is  interesting  to  all  who  care  for  the  history  of  the  indus 
trial  development  of  our  country. 

Mr.  Vanderbilt  was  born  near  Stapleton,  Staten  Island, 
New  York,  May  27,  1794.  He  was  descended  from  a  Dutch 
immigrant,  Jan  Aertsen  Van  der  Bilt,  who  came  from  Hol 
land  about  1650  and  settled  upon  a  farm  near  Brooklyn, 
New  York.  Jan's  grandson,  the  great-grandfather  of  Cor 
nelius,  went  over  to  Staten  Island  in  1715  and  became 
the  owner  of  a  farm  near  New  Dorp.  The  Vanderbilts 
continued  to  live  on  Staten  Island  till  the  time  of  Cornelius. 
The  father  of  Cornelius  was  a  farmer  in  moderate  circum 
stances,  who  could  have  given  his  son  a  fair  education,  but 
the  lad's  interest  lay  in  other  ways.  He  learned  to  read 
and  write,  and  that  was  about  all,  save  that  he  had  natu 
rally  a  genius  for  arithmetic. 

The  early  life  of  Cornelius  was  spent  on  the  farm  or 
in  marketing  its  produce,  the  latter  work  leading  him  to 

'39 


140  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

become  very  familiar  with  the  water  traffic  about  New 
York  City.  While  still  a  mere  boy  he  carried  the  produce 
of  his  father's  farm  to  market  in  a  boat  which  they  owned ; 
he  also  carried  freight  for  others,  and  when  opportunity 
offered  carried  passengers  also.  The  produce  was  usually 
sold  in  advance,  but  often  Cornelius  was  given  discretion 
in  the  matter  of  sales,  and  early  showed  the  business 
shrewdness  so  characteristic  of  him  later  in  life.  He 
became  a  close  student  of  the  market,  and  made  little 
ventures  of  his  own  with  such  success  that  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  he  became  the  owner  of  a  better  boat  than  his 
father's.  By  the  time  he  was  eighteen  years  old  he  owned 
two  boats  and  was  captain  of  a  third.  When  he  was  nine 
teen  he  married  his  cousin,  Sophia  Johnson,  who  made  a 
prudent,  thrifty  wife  and  who  contributed  largely  towards 
the  accumulation  of  his  fortune.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
three  he  was  worth  $9000,  and  was  captain  of  a  steam 
boat  at  a  salary  of  $1000  a  year.  This  boat  made  trips 
between  New  York  and  Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  where 
his  wife  kept  a  small  hotel. 

At  a  very  early  period  in  his  career  Mr.  Vanderbilt 
began  to  make  a  careful  study  of  the  means  of  trans 
portation  between  New  York  and  the  neighboring  ports. 
He  established  lines  from  New  York  to  several  places  on 
the  Hudson  River  and  Long  Island  Sound,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  carrying  freight  and  passengers.  He  had  boats 
built  according  to  plans  that  were  largely  his  own.  These 
boats  were  the  very  best  of  their  class  in  regard  to  speed, 
comfort,  and  capacity. 

When  he  was  only  thirty-three  he  leased  the  ferry  between 
New  York  and  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey,  and  built  new  and 


CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT  141 

better  boats  for  the  service.  He  met  with  such  success 
that  two  years  later  he  entered  into  a  successful  competition 
for  the  transport  service  of  the  Hudson.  His  training  from 
his  early  boyhood  had  fitted  him  for  this  task.  He  knew 
all  the  details  of  the  work,  was  thoroughly  familiar  with 
the  water  ways  about  New  York,  knew  where  to  find  the 
best  possible  equipment,  had  a  wide  acquaintance  with  all 
classes  of  water  men,  and  was  therefore  able  to  obtain  the 
very  best  help  for  all  positions.  He  secured  the  most  satis 
factory  results  from  the  work  of  his  men  because  he  always 
recognized  and  rewarded  faithfulness  and  efficiency,  and 
was  utterly  remorseless  in  regard  to  men  who  did  not  render 
effective  service. 

When  he  was  forty-five  years  of  age  he  was  thought  to 
be  worth  $500,000.  He  had  so  extensive  a  line  of  vessels 
that  he  was  universally  known  as  "  Commodore."  At  this 
time  he  disposed  of  his  Hudson  River  interests  and  devoted 
himself  to  extending  and  improving  his  traffic  on  Long 
Island  Sound. 

Upon  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  in  1849  there 
was  widespread  excitement,  and  thousands  were  anxious  to 
reach  California  as  soon  as  possible.  Transportation  was 
hard  to  secure.  Vanderbilt  immediately  established  a  line 
of  steamers  on  the  Nicaragua  route  to  San  Francisco  and 
made  very  large  profits.  Later  he  established  a  line  between 
New  York  and  Havre. 

In  1853  he  sold  out  his  Nicaragua  line  upon  what  he 
considered  very  advantageous  terms.  He  determined  to 
take  a  vacation,  having  worked  for  more  than  forty  years 
without  rest  and  under  circumstances  that  were  very  exact 
ing.  He  built  a  steam  yacht  upon  plans  that  were  largely 


142  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

his  own,  surpassing  in  size  and  equipment  any  then  in  exist 
ence.  This  vessel  he  called  the  North  Star,  and  in  it  he 
took  his  family  and  a  party  of  friends  for  a  long  pleasure 
trip  to  the  Old  World. 

On  his  return  to  America  he  found  that  those  to  whom 
he  had  sold  the  Nicaragua  line  were  trying  to  evade  mak 
ing  the  payments  as  agreed  upon.  Most  men  would  have 
sought  redress  in  the  courts,  but  he  at  once  established 
a  competing  line  and  with  his  great  resources  and  better 
understanding  of  the  business  forced  them  into  bankruptcy. 
This  gave  him  the  complete  control  of  a  business  so  valu 
able  that  in  the  next  eleven  years  his  profits  amounted  to 
$i  1,000,000.  This  made  him  one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in 
America,  and  it  was  the  result  of  legitimate  business  enter 
prise  on  the  part  of  one  who  began  life  with  good  health, 
strength,  tireless  energy,  and  a  genius  for  business,  but 
without  money,  special  training,  or  wealthy  and  influential 
friends.  He  had  made  his  way  unaided,  in  the  face  of 
determined  and  powerful  opposition. 

All  great  men  make  mistakes  and  Vanderbilt  was  no 
exception  to  the  rule.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Crimean 
War  he  entered  into  competition  with  England  for  the 
carrying  trade  between  Europe  and  the  United  States, 
but  owing  to  conditions  which  it  is  not  necessary  to 
discuss  here,  the  enterprise  failed. 

Mr.  Vanderbilt  was  not  slow  to  see  that  the  railroads 
were  destined  to  interfere  seriously  with  the  water  traffic 
on  the  Hudson  River  and  Long  Island  Sound.  As  early 
as  1844  ne  began  very  quietly  to  buy  shares  in  the  New 
York  and  New  Haven  Railroad.  It  was  not  until  after  the 
close  of  the  Crimean  War  in  1856  that  it  was  observed 


CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT  143 

that  he  was  drawing  out  of  the  Sound  traffic.  In  all  these 
years  he  had  been  quietly  buying  stock  in  the  New  York 
and  Harlem  Railroad.  The  stock  in  both  the  roads  men 
tioned  was  bought  at  a  very  low  figure. 

Mr.  Vanderbilt  had  still  too  much  invested  in  steamships 
to  put  his  energies  into  railroads,  but  the  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  War  created  such  a  demand  for  steamships  that  he 
was  enabled  to  dispose  of  all  the  vessels  he  cared  to  part 
with,  and  in  1863,  when  he  was  sixty-nine  years  old,  he 
entered  upon  a  new  career,  one  in  which  he  was  to  achieve 
his  greatest  success,  make  the  most  radical  changes,  and 
accumulate  an  immense  fortune.  He  became  the  greatest 
and  most  successful  railroad  manager  the  world  had  known. 
He  differed  from  all  railroad  managers  of  that  time  in  that 
he  improved  the  roads  he  bought,  and  brought  them  to  the 
highest  degree  of  efficiency,  while  others  made  money  by 
"wrecking"  roads.  His  chief  business  maxim  was  "  Do 
your  business  well,  and  don't  tell  anybody  what  you  are 
going  to  do  till  you  have  done  it." 

The  following  incident  illustrates  Mr.  Vanderbilt's  deci 
sion  and  energy.  With  the  first  news  of  the  appearance 
of  the  Merrimac  Mr.  Vanderbilt  immediately  gave  to  the 
government  his  steamer  Vanderbilt,  which  cost  nearly 
a  million  dollars,  and  which  he  believed  to  be  both  the 
strongest  and  swiftest  ship  afloat.  He  was  sure  that  it 
could  run  down  the  Merrimac,  though  both  vessels  might 
be  sunk  by  the  collision.  The  success  of  the  Monitor 
made  the  trial  unnecessary,  and  the  Vanderbilt  was  put 
to  other  service  in  which  it  was  of  great  value  to  the  gov 
ernment.  For  this  gift  Congress  voted  Mr.  Vanderbilt  a 
gold  medal. 


144  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

The  Harlem  Railroad  had  been  so  mismanaged  that  in 
1863  its  stock  was  selling  at  $10  a  share.  Mr.  Vanderbilt 
bought  a  controlling  interest  in  the  road,  and  at  the  same 
time  bought  shares  in  the  Hudson  River  road  at  $75  a 
share.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  battle  royal  between 
Vanderbilt  and  his  business  rivals.  He  obtained  a  charter 
for  a  system  of  street  railways  in  New  York  to  connect 
with  his  road,  which  sent  its  stock  up  to  par  ;  but  prominent 
Wall  Street  operators  and  politicians  entered  into  a  combi 
nation  against  him,  the  politicians  undertaking  to  secure 
the  repeal  of  his  charter,  while  the  operators  were  to  force 
down  the  price  of  the  stock.  This  they  succeeded  in  doing, 
the  stock  going  lower  and  lower,  but  Vanderbilt  kept  buying 
it  till  he  had  the  whole  stock  of  the  road,  and  the  operators 
who  had  sold  short  had  to  settle  with  him  on  his  own  terms. 

By  this  time  he  had  secured  a  controlling  interest  in  the 
Hudson  River  road,  and  he  applied  to  the  legislature  for  an 
act  providing  for  a  union  of  the  Hudson  River  and  Harlem 
roads  under  one  management.  Here  he  met  the  same  kind 
of  opposition  as  before  from  those  who  had  not  yet  learned 
what  kind  of  man  they  had  to  deal  with.  The  stock  went 
down,  down  below  what  it  sold  for  before  Mr.  Vanderbilt 
took  hold  of  it,  and  again  he  bought  all  that  was  offered. 
The  contest  went  on  until  it  was  found  that  the  men  opposed 
to  him  had  contracted  to  sell  twenty-seven  thousand  more 
shares  than  had  ever  been  issued.  In  order  to  avert  a  gen 
eral  panic  the  "  commodore  "  had  to  settle  with  the  "  shorts," 
but  he  did  it  at  a  price  that  brought  him  immense  profits. 
The  two  roads  were  made  one,  with  Mr.  Vanderbilt  as  presi 
dent  of  the  new  company.  He  surprised  old  railroad  men 
with  the  minuteness  of  his  knowledge  of  railway  construction. 


CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT  145 

Great  improvements  were  made  in  every  department.  He 
insisted  that  only  the  very  best  appliances  should  be  used, 
and  that  the  employees  should  be  well  disciplined,  faithful, 
and  efficient.  This  was  a  revolution  in  railroad  management. 

Soon  Mr.  Vanderbilt  began  to  buy  stock  in  the  Central 
road.  Its  managers  decided  to  make  war  upon  him  and 
arranged  to  send  as  much  of  their  freight  and  as  many 
of  their  passengers  as  possible  from  Albany  to  New  York 
by  water.  This  did  not  prove  to  be  a  wise  movement,  for 
when  the  ice  closed  the  river  traffic  Mr.  Vanderbilt  changed 
the  terminus  of  his  road  from  Albany  to  the  other  side 
of  the  river  and  refused  to  receive  freight  from  the  Central. 
The  result  was  that  the  stock  of  the  Central  fell  rapidly, 
the  holders  were  anxious  to  sell,  and  Mr.  Vanderbilt  was 
soon  able  to  unite  the  Central  with  his  other  roads. 

After  this  there  was  a  long  contest  with  the  Erie,  in 
which  Daniel  Drew,  Jay  Gould,  James  Fiske,  and  others 
were  his  opponents.  The  result  of  the  contest  was  that 
the  Vanderbilt  roads  were  left  without  an  important  rival 
for  the  traffic  between  Buffalo  and  New  York.  Later  con 
trol  of  the  Lake  Shore,  Canada  Southern,  and  Michigan 
Central  was  obtained,  and  the  magnificently  equipped  and 
well  managed  Vanderbilt  system  was  complete. 

Business  is  a  commercial  warfare  and,  like  other  forms 
of  war,  is  not  always  conducted  in  the  most  humane  manner. 
While  individuals  may  have  suffered  through  Mr.  Vander 
bilt 's  enterprises,  the  world  at  large  is  the  better  for  his 
having  lived.  He  contributed  much  to  the  permanent  pros 
perity  of  our  country  and  set  on  foot  enterprises  which  con 
tinue  to  be  of  great  value. 


Eli  Whitney 


146 


ELI    WHITNEY 

1765-1825 

ELI  WHITNEY  will  always  be  known  to  the  general  public 
as  the  inventor  of  the  cotton  gin,  although  his  other  inven 
tions  are  also  worthy  of  mention. 

He  was  born  in  Westboro,  Massachusetts,  December  8, 
1765.  His  father  was  an  influential  farmer,  though  not  a 
rich  one.  Being  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  ingenuity,  he 
had  a  shop  in  which  he  repaired  agricultural  machinery 
and  sometimes,  when  he  had  spare  time,  made  chairs  and 
wheels.  In  this  shop  Eli  early  learned  to  handle  tools. 
He  made  toy  carts,  sleds,  kites,  traps,  and  such  other  toys 
and  implements  as  boys  are  interested  in.  From  early  boy 
hood  he  was  known  as  a  mechanical  genius.  When  only 
twelve  years  old  he  made  a  very  good  violin.  This  attracted 
so  much  attention  that  people  came  miles  to  see  it.  From 
that  time  he  did  a  very  profitable  business  in  repairing  violins 
and  other  musical  instruments. 

He  had  long  been  very  eager  to  examine  his  father's 
watch,  and  observing  one  Sunday  morning  that  his  father 
was  going  to  leave  the  watch  at  home,  he  feigned  sickness 
that  he  might  have  a  chance  to  inspect  it.  He  took  it  apart 
and  put  it  together  again  so  skillfully  that  his  father  had  no 
suspicion  that  it  had  been  touched.  At  that  time  Eli  was 
only  about  twelve  years  old.  When  he  was  thirteen  his 


148  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

father  married  a  second  time.  Eli's  stepmother  had  a  hand 
some  set  of  table  knives  of  which  she  was  very  proud  and 
which  she  was  very  fond  of  exhibiting.  On  one  occasion 
Eli  said  :  "  I  could  make  as  good  ones  if  I  had  the  tools, 
and  I  could  make  the  tools  if  I  had  the  common  tools  to 
begin  with."  This  remark  caused  much  laughter  at  Eli's 
expense,  but  it  happened  that  one  of  the  knives  was  broken 
a  little  later  and  Eli  really  did  make  one  to  replace  it  that 
was  exactly  like  the  others,  save  the  stamp  on  the  blade. 

During  the  Revolutionary  War  nails  were  very  scarce, 
and  when  he  was  sixteen  years  old  Eli  began  to  manufacture 
them.  He  carried  on  the  work  very  profitably  till  the  close 
of  the  war,  after  which  they  were  imported  at  a  price  which 
made  his  labor  unprofitable.  Young  Whitney  also  began 
the  manufacture  of  hat  pins,  and  succeeded  so  well  that  he 
soon  had  a  practical  monopoly  of  the  business. 

At  nineteen  years  of  age  he  determined  to  obtain  a 
liberal  education.  He  had  long  desired  this  and  his  father 
had  sympathized  with  him,  though  he  had  been  unable  to 
give  the  lad  an  education  beyond  that  offered  in  the  schools 
of  his  own  town.  By  the  exercise  of  his  mechanical  skill 
and  by  teaching  school  Eli  earned  enough  to  enable  him 
to  prepare  for  Yale  College,  which  he  entered  when  he  was 
twenty-four  years  old .  Many  of  his  friends  tried  to  dissuade 
him,  saying,  "It  is  a  great  pity  to  spoil  such  ingenuity  by 
going  to  college." 

He  was  a  hard-working  student  and  completed  his  course 
in  three  years,  standing  well  in  his  classes  and  excelling  in 
mathematics  and  mechanics.  He  showed  his  mechanical 
skill  when  in  college  by  repairing  philosophical  apparatus 
that  no  one  else  in  the  place  could  put  in  order. 


ELI  WHITNEY  149 

At  the  close  of  his  college  course  he  went  South  to  teach. 
On  the  steamer  with  him  was  the  widow  of  General  Greene, 
who  was  destined  to  have  a  great  influence  on  his  career. 
When  he  reached  Savannah  he  found  that  the  position 
of  tutor,  upon  which  he  was  counting,  had  been  filled  by 
another.  Being  without  money,  occupation,  or  friends,  he 
was  at  a  loss  what  to  do.  He  made  his  situation  known  to 
Mrs.  Greene,  who  invited  him  to  make  her  house  his  home 
and  advised  him  to  study  law.  He  accepted  the  home,  but, 
fortunately  for  him  and  for  the  world,  circumstances  led 
him  to  abandon  the  study  of  law. 

While  he  was  making  his  home  with  Mrs.  Greene  he 
showed  many  times  and  in  many  ways  his  remarkable 
mechanical  ingenuity.  One  day  a  number  of  gentlemen 
were  discussing  at  her  house  the  condition  of  agriculture 
in  the  South,  and  were  expressing  their  regret  that  cotton 
raising  was  so  unprofitable  owing  to  the  labor  involved  in 
separating  the  cotton  from  the  seed.  "  It  is  a  day's  labor 
to  separate  a  single  pound  of  cotton  from  the  seeds,"  said 
one.  "  What  a  pity  that  there  is  no  mechanical  device  for 
doing  the  work  !  " 

At  this  Mrs.  Greene  said,  "Gentlemen,  apply  to  my  young 
friend  here,  Mr.WThitney.  He  can  make  anything." 

It  happened  that  Mr.  Whitney  had  never  seen  any  cotton 
as  it  comes  from  the  plant,  but  when  some  was  brought  to 
him  he  undertook  the  task  of  making  a  suitable  machine. 
He  worked  under  great  difficulties,  as  he  had  to  make  his 
own  tools.  There  was  no  wire  to  be  had  in  Savannah,  and 
he  was  compelled  to  draw  wire  for  his  own  use.  After 
several  months'  work  his  machine  was  completed.  With 
the  exception  of  Mrs.  Greene  and  a  neighbor  named  Miller, 


150 


SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 


no  one  knew  of  his  work.  Mr.  Miller,  who  afterwards  mar 
ried  Mrs.  Greene,  was  a  native  of  Connecticut  and,  like 
Whitney,  a  graduate  of  Yale.  He  was  a  lawyer  by  profes 
sion  and  had  a  decided  taste  for  mechanics. 

Upon  the  completion  of  the  cotton  gin  several  prominent 
gentlemen  from  various  parts  of  the  state  were  invited  to 


Early  Cotton  Gin 

be  present  at  a  test  of  its  work.  The  experiment  was  a 
complete  success.  The  machine  would  do  the  work  of 
hundreds  of  men,  and  through  its  use  cotton  raising  became 
immensely  profitable.  The  value  of  this  invention,  espe 
cially  to  the  South,  can  hardly  be  estimated.  No  other 
invention,  unless  it  be  the  reaper,  has  added  so  much  to 
the  wealth  of  the  country. 


ELI  WHITNEY  151 

The  cotton  gin  was  invented  in  1 793 .  In  1 79 1  the  United 
States  had  exported  less  than  20,000  pounds  of  cotton.  In 
1828  the  crop  was  270,000,000  pounds.  In  1860  it  had 
increased  to  4,669,770  bales  ;  in  1899  to  1 1,335,383  bales, 
a  bale  weighing  a  little  less  than  500  pounds. 

In  1815  the  price  of  the  cheapest  kind  of  cotton  cloth 
was  thirty  cents  a  yard.  In  1830  it  was  ten  cents  ;  in  1840, 
eight  cents  ;  and  it  has  sold  as  low  as  three  cents  a  yard. 

Mr.  Whitney  entered  into  partnership  with  Mrs.  Greene 
and  Mr.  Miller  to  manufacture  and  sell  the  cotton  gin, 
Mrs.  Greene  and  Mr.  Miller  furnishing  the  capital.  They 
established  a  factory  in  Connecticut,  but  before  the  prepa 
rations  for  manufacture  were  completed  his  workshop  was 
broken  into  and  his  models  stolen.  Before  his  machines 
were  on  the  market  several  others,  inferior  to  his,  but  made 
from  his  stolen  models,  were  on  sale.  He  brought  suits  to 
protect  his  interests,  but  the  power  of  money,  the  injustice 
of  courts,  and  the  devices  of  legal  talent  were  so  effective 
that  more  than  sixty  suits  were  brought  in  Georgia  before 
a  single  decision  could  be  obtained  on  the  merits  of  his  claim. 
He  finally  established  his  rights  so  far  as  the  validity  of 
his  patent  was  concerned,  but  found  it  practically  impossible 
to  convict  any  one  for  the  violation  of  it,  as  in  the  face  of 
convincing  evidence  no  jury  would  find  a  verdict  for  him. 
Early  in  the  controversy  the  factory  in  Connecticut  was 
burned  and  Whitney  not  only  lost  all  that  he  had  but 
found  himself  $4000  in  debt  besides. 

Tennessee,  North  Carolina,  and  South  Carolina  bought 
of  Mr.  Whitney  the  right  to  use  the  cotton  gin  in  their 
respective  states.  North  Carolina  lived  up  to  her  agree 
ment.  South  Carolina,  after  paying  part  of  the  sum  due, 


152  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

refused  to  pay  more  and  brought  suit  to  recover  the  amount 
that  had  been  paid,  although  this  action  was  rescinded  later. 
Tennessee  annulled  her  contract.  So  shamefully  was  Whit 
ney  treated,  and  to  such  legal  expense  was  he  put,  that  it 
is  said  that  when  he  applied  for  the  renewal  of  his  patent 
in  1812  he  had  not  received  as  much  from  his  invention  as 
was  saved  in  one  hour  by  the  use  of  his  machines  then  in 
operation. 

It  is  almost  inconceivable,  considering  the  value  of  the 
invention,  the  trifling  sum  that  Whitney  made  from  it,  and 
the  trouble  and  expense  that  he  was  subjected  to  in  main 
taining  his  claim,  that  a  renewal  of  the  patent  would  be 
refused,  yet  such  was  the  case. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  from  Whitney  to 
Robert  Fulton  is  of  interest  because  it  shows  the  feeling 
of  the  people  of  the  South  toward  him  and  his  invention. 

At  one  time  but  few  men  in  Georgia  dared  to  come  into  court  and 
testify  to  the  most  simple  facts  within  their  knowledge  relative  to  the 
use  of  the  machine.  In  one  instance  I  had  great  difficulty  in  proving 
that  the  machine  had  been  used  in  Georgia,  although  at  the  same 
moment  there  were  three  separate  sets  of  this  machinery  in  motion 
within  fifty  yards  of  the  building  in  which  the  court  sat,  and  all  so 
near  that  the  rattling  of  the  wheels  was  distinctly  heard  on  the  steps 
of  the  courthouse. 

Mr.  Whitney  added  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  to  the 
wealth  of  the  country.  The  debts  of  the  South  were  paid 
off  by  means  of  the  cotton  gin  and  its  lands  were  trebled 
in  value.  For  this  he  was  rewarded  by  thirty  years  of 
ingratitude  and  injustice. 

While  this  hurt  Mr.  Whitney  it  did  not  embitter  him. 
As  early  as  1798  he  felt  that  he  had  little  hope  of  reaping 
any  reward  from  his  invention  of  the  cotton  gin,  and  he 


ELI  WHITNEY 


153 


began  the  manufacture  of  firearms,  establishing  his  factory 
at  East  Rock,  near  New  Haven,  a  place  now  known  as 
Whitneyville.  He  received  from  time  to  time  several  con 
tracts  from  the  United  States  for  the  manufacture  of  mus 
kets.  He  introduced  many  ingenious  inventions  in  the 
manufacture  of  his  guns,  making  them  superior  to  any 
before  in  use.  He  was  the  first  to  divide  labor  so  as  to 
have  one  man  make  a  single  thing  and  so  become  very 
accurate  in  his  work.  His  skill  in  this  particular  and  his 
mechanical  inventions  enabled  him  to  accumulate  a  fortune. 
President  Day  of  Yale  College,  in  a  eulogy  delivered  at 
the  death  of  Whitney,  said  : 

The  higher  qualities  of  his  mind,  instead  of  unfitting  him  for  ordi 
nary  duties,  were  firmly  tempered  with  taste  and  judgment  in  the 
business  of  life.  His  manners  were  formed  by  an  extensive  inter 
course  with  the  best  society.  He  had  an  energy  of  character  that 
carried  him  through  difficulties  too  formidable  for  ordinary  minds. 
With  these  advantages  he  entered  on  the  career  of  life ;  his  efforts 
were  crowned  with  success.  He  had  gained  the  respect  of  all  classes 
of  the  community  ;  his  opinions  were  regarded  with  peculiar  deference 
by  the  man  of  science  as  well  as  the  practical  artist.  His  large  and 
liberal  views,  his  knowledge  of  the  world,  the  wide  range  of  his  obser 
vations,  his  public  spirit,  and  his  acts  of  beneficence  had  given  him 
a  commanding  influence  in  society. 

There  is,  it  must  be  said,  a  debit  and  a  credit  side  to  every 
account,  and  even  the  invention  of  the  cotton  gin  was  not 
an  immediate  and  unmixed  good.  Previous  to  its  invention 
slavery,  as  an  institution,  was  dying  out  in  the  South  because 
it  was  unprofitable.  The  enormous  increase  in  cotton  cul 
ture,  however,  made  slavery  very  profitable  ;  so  that  it  is 
even  possible  to  consider  the  cotton  gin  as  one  of  the  causes 
that  led  to  the  great  Civil  War. 


Henry  Clay 


'54 


HENRY    CLAY 

1777-1852 

HENRY  CLAY  was  a  man  concerning  whom  great  differ 
ence  of  opinion  prevailed.  Andrew  Jackson,  without  doubt, 
thought  him  the  incarnation  of  all  that  was  evil  in  public 
life ;  his  intimate  friends  believed  him  to  be  the  imper 
sonation  of  nearly  all  the  virtues  and  talents  committed 
to  mankind.  Between  these  two  extremes  were  many 
differing  opinions. 

The  study  of  such  a  life  must  be  of  interest  to  those 
who  care  for  public  affairs.  Clay's  long  political  career, 
covering  the  most  exciting  period  of  American  history  and 
dealing  with  the  most  intricate  problems,  notably  that  of 
slavery,  could  have  no  other  effect  than  to  make  for  him 
warm  friends  and  bitter  enemies.  It  was  inevitable  that  any 
man  under  such  circumstances  would  not  always  be  right, 
would  not  always  act  wisely,  would  not  always  be  consistent. 

That  Clay  was  patriotic  and  loved  his  country  intensely 
cannot  be  doubted  ;  that  his  very  love  for  the  Union  may 
sometimes  have  led  to  his  adoption  of  questionable  com 
promises,  to  unwise  change  in  views,  or  at  least  to  unwise 
action,  is  perhaps  true.  It  is  not  possible  in  this  brief  sketch 
to  present  a  complete  biography,  for  that  would  necessitate 
giving  a  history  of  the  United  States  for  nearly  half  a  cen 
tury.  During  his  long  political  life  there  was  no  limit  to 

T55 


156  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

the  abuse  heaped  upon  Clay  by  his  enemies,  or  to  the  admi 
ration  and  laudation  of  his  friends,  who  were  affectionate, 
devoted,  and  enthusiastic  to  a  degree  never  surpassed.  At 
his  defeat  for  the  office  of  President  strong  men  wept  as 
over  the  loss  of  a  near  and  dear  friend. 

Henry  Clay  was  born  April  12,  1777,  in  Hanover  County, 
Virginia.  His  father,  John  Clay,  was  a  Baptist  minister, 
a  man  of  excellent  character  and  great  dignity.  He  had  a 
remarkable  voice  and  a  fine  delivery,  which  his  son  also 
possessed.  He  preached  to  a  poor  congregation,  receiving 
a  meager  salary,  and  at  his  death,  which  occurred  when 
Henry  was  only  four  years  old,  his  wife  was  left  with  the 
care  of  seven  children  and  practically  without  means.  She 
is  said  to  have  been  a  woman  of  great  executive  ability  and 
many  admirable  qualities. 

Under  the  circumstances  Clay  had  little  opportunity  of 
attending  school ;  two  or  three  years  in  a  log  schoolhouse, 
presided  over  by  a  man  of  questionable  reputation,  could 
not  have  contributed  much  to  his  future  greatness.  When 
not  in  school  he  was  following  the  plow  barefooted,  or  riding 
a  pony  carrying  corn  or  wheat  to  Daricott's  mill  on  the 
Pamunkey  River.  On  his  way  to  the  mill  he  had  to  pass 
through  a  swampy  region  known  as  the  "Slashes,"  and 
because  of  this  he  was  known  afterwards  as  "  The  Mill 
Boy  of  the  Slashes." 

Clay  was  devoted  to  his  mother,  but  he  was  separated 
from  her  early  in  life  by  her  marriage  to  Henry  Watkins, 
with  whom  she  went  to  Kentucky.  Mr.  Watkins  thought 
very  much  of  the  boy  and  secured  him  a  place  as  assistant 
to  Peter  Tinsley,  clerk  of  the  High  Court  of  Chancery. 
This  was  when  Clay  was  about  fourteen  years  old.  For 


HENRY  CLAY  157 

the  four  years  preceding  this  he  had  been  a  clerk  in  the 
retail  store  of  Richard  Denby,  in  Richmond. 

In  his  new  position  Clay  felt  his  lack  of  knowledge  more 
than  ever  before,  and  put  forth  increased  efforts  to  acquire 
an  education.  While  with  Mr.  Tinsley  he  was  thrown  in 
contact  with  Chancellor  Wythe,  who  became  greatly  inter 
ested  in  him  and  directed  his  studies.  The  chancellor 
thought  Clay  an  uncommon  young  man  and  prophesied  a 
brilliant  future  for  him.  After  some  years  he  advised  Clay 
to  read  law,  which  he  did,  applying  himself  with  such  energy 
and  enthusiasm  that  he  was  admitted  to  practice  within 
a  year  and  when  he  was  only  twenty  years  old.  At  this 
time  Clay  was  a  tall,  thin,  awkward,  beardless  youth,  but 
remarkably  bright  and  enterprising.  His  friends  wished 
him  to  practice  law  in  Richmond,  but  for  some  reason, 
possibly  to  be  near  his  mother,  he  soon  went  to  Kentucky. 
He  settled  at  Lexington,  near  which  place  he  spent  most 
of  his  life. 

He  did  not  go  to  Kentucky  with  any  extravagant  expecta 
tions.  When  an  old  man  he  said,  "  I  remember  how  com 
fortable  I  thought  I  should  be  if  I  could  make  a  hundred 
pounds  a  year,  and  with  what  delight  I  received  my  first 
fifteen-shilling  fee."  For  the  purpose  of  improving  in  speak 
ing  he  joined  a  debating  society  soon  after  going  to  Lex 
ington,  but  owing  to  his  modesty  he  took  no  part  in  the 
debates  till  one  evening  the  president  of  the  society  called 
upon  him  to  speak.  He  arose,  greatly  embarrassed,  and  said 
"Gentlemen  of  the  jury,"  but  noticing  his  mistake,  and  also 
that  the  audience  sympathized  with  him,  he  rallied  and  made 
a  brilliant  speech.  He  was  enthusiastically  applauded  and 
warmly  congratulated. 


158  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

He  immediately  began  a  lucrative  practice.  Even  at  that 
early  age  he  was  "one  of  the  most  fluent  and  eloquent 
speakers  that  ever  addressed  a  jury."  He  early  came  in 
contact  with  such  able  lawyers  as  John  Breckenridge,  Felix 
Grundy,  George  Nicolas,  and  William  Murray,  and  on  the 
whole  he  was  a  greater  power  in  the  court  room  than  any 
one  of  them,  though  he  never  ranked  with  the  great  lawyers 
of  the  country. 

Clay  was  imaginative,  eloquent,  skillful  in  debate,  ingenious 
in  his  grouping  and  statement  of  facts,  and  plausible  in  his 
reasoning.  He  was  somewhat  superficial ;  partly  because 
of  his  lack  of  education,  partly  because  he  was  too  fond 
of  society  to  give  sufficient  study  to  his  cases,  and  partly 
because  he  was  not  willing  in  all  cases  to  follow  his  reason 
ing  to  its  logical  conclusion.  There  is  some  force  in  the 
criticism  once  made  of  him,  that  he  "  was  a  declaimer  rather 
than  a  reasoner,"  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  he  was  a 
very  able  man  notwithstanding  these  faults,  which  he  over 
came  in  a  measure  in  his  later  life. 

From  the  first  Clay  was  greatly  interested  in  politics. 
When  he  had  been  in  Kentucky  but  a  short  time  a  conven 
tion  was  called  to  draft  a  new  constitution.  Clay  earnestly 
urged  that  provision  be  made  for  the  gradual  emancipation 
of  slaves.  In  this  he  had  almost  no  following,  but  he  pre 
sented  his  views  with  great  force.  He  said  that  he  had 
always  felt  that  slavery  was  wrong  and  a  great  curse  to 
all  concerned  with  it.  For  taking  this  position  he  was 
denounced  as  "a  Southern  man  with  Northern  principles." 
This,  however,  did  not  seem  to  lessen  his  popularity.  In 
fact  there  is^  in  most  cases  admiration  for  a  man  who  will 
stand  by  his  convictions  even  when  he  knows  he  is  hopelessly 


HENRY  CLAY 


'59 


in  the  minority.  This  Clay  usually  did  regardless  of  the 
consequences  to  himself.  If  there  seemed  to  be  some 
exceptions  to  this  when  he  was  seeking  the  Presidency,  he 
suffered  enough  for  it,  and  it  was  contrary  to  the  general 
tenor  of  his  life.  Later,  on  a  famous  occasion,  he  said,  "  I 
had  rather  be  right  than  President." 

During  Clay's  time  dueling  was  universally  upheld  in 
the  South,  and  under  certain  conditions  a  man  had  to  fight 
or  be  socially  ostracized.  On  two  occasions  Clay  accepted 
a  challenge,  but  he  left  no  one  in  doubt  as  to  his  own  con 
victions  on  the  subject.  He  wrote  : 

I  owe  it  to  the  community  to  say  that  whatever  I  may  have  done, 
or  by  inevitable  circumstances  might  be  forced  to  do,  no  man  in  it 
holds  in  deeper  abhorrence  than  I  do  the  pernicious  practice  of  dueling. 

Clay  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Kentucky  legislature 
when  only  twenty-six  years  of  age.  Three  years  later  he 
was  chosen  to  serve  out  the  unexpired  term  of  John  Adair 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  being  the  youngest  man  ever 
chosen  to  that  office.  In  fact  when  he  was  sworn  in  he 
lacked  a  little  more  than  three  months  of  reaching  the  con 
stitutional  age,  but  the  question  of  age  qualification  seems 
not  to  have  been  thought  of  in  his  case. 

Clay  so  prospered  in  his  profession  that  when  he  had 
been  at  Lexington  only  two  years  he  felt  justified  in  marry 
ing  and  buying  an  estate  of  six  hundred  acres  near  Lex 
ington,  which  he  called  Ashland.  As  Clay  increased  in 
wealth  he  grew  in  popularity  also,  till  he  was  by  far  the 
most  popular  man-  in  the  state.  He  never  became  very 
wealthy,  because  his  hospitalities  were  always  dispropor- 
tioned  to  his  means. 


i6o 


SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 


After  serving  out  the  unexpired  term  of  Adair  in  the 
Senate  he  was  again  elected  to  the  Kentucky  legislature 
and  chosen  Speaker,  which  gave  him  the  necessary  training 
for  the  position  which  was  to  come  to  him  in  the  future, 


Ashland,  the  Home  of  Henry  Clay 

and  in  which  he  was  to  make  his  greatest  reputation,— 
the  Speakership  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  In  the 
winter  of  1809-1810  he  was  again  sent  to  the  United 
States  Senate  to  serve  out  the  unexpired  term  (two  years) 
of  Buckner  Thurston.  He  made  speeches  in  favor  of  encour 
aging  American  manufacturing  industries,  and  was  recog 
nized  as  a  rising  man. 


HENRY  CLAY  l6l 

Upon  the  expiration  of  his  term  in  the  Senate  he  was 
chosen  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and 
elected  Speaker.  This  was  really  the  beginning  of  his  great 
career,  his  other  service  having  merely  prepared  him  for  it. 
At  that  time  we  were  on  the  eve  of  a  war  with  Great 
Britain.  Clay  deemed  war  inevitable,  and  he  more  than 
any  other  man  was  responsible  for  it.  It  is  doubtful  if  war 
would  have  broken  out  if  he  had  used  his  influence  to  pre 
vent  it.  As  it  was,  the  majority  in  its  favor  was  small  both 
in  the  Senate  and  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  Later 
Clay  resigned  the  Speakership  to  act  as  one  of  the  commis 
sioners  to  arrange  a  treaty  of  peace  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States.  The  result  of  this  treaty  was  to 
leave  all  matters  as  they  were  before  the  war,  not  one  of 
our  grievances  having  been  redressed. 

Upon  the  election  of  Monroe,  Clay  hoped  to  be  made 
Secretary  of  State,  but  Webster  was  given  that  place,  while 
Clay  was  offered  the  War  Department  and  the  Russian 
mission,  both  of  which  he  declined.  He  was  again  elected 
to  the  House  of  Representatives  and  chosen  Speaker  by  an 
almost  unanimous  vote.  When  first  elected  Speaker,  at  the 
age  of  thirty-seven,  he  was  probably  the  most  popular  man 
in  the  country,  and  almost  to  the  day  of  his  death  he  was 
the  most  influential  man  in  his  party. 

Clay  was  no  doubt  wise  in  declining  the  positions  offered 
him  by  Monroe  and  remaining  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives.  The  place  that  both  nature  and  training  had  best 
fitted  him  to  fill  was  one  where  eloquence  and  the  power  of 
swaying  the  feelings  and  passions  of  men  counted  for  much, 
rather  than  a  position  that  called  for  executive  ability  and 
the  working  out  of  details. 


1 62  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

The  war  had  brought  taxes,  and  taxes  are  never  popular. 
The  question  to  be  considered  was  what  method  of  raising 
them  would  be  least  burdensome  and  offensive.  Clay  advo 
cated  a  system  of  protective  tariffs,  which  he  termed  the 
"American  system."  To  the  perfection  of  such  a  tariff  he 
devoted  himself  at  this  time,  and  the  subject  was  of  great 
interest  to  him  throughout  his  future  political  career. 

He  came  into  conflict  with  the  administration  over  the 
question  of  internal  improvements.  Monroe  contended  that 
the  Constitution  did  not  warrant  the  expenditure  of  money 
for  such  purposes.  This  view  was  held  of  necessity  by  the 
extreme  states-rights  people.  Clay  proclaimed  the  great 
destiny  of  the  republic  and  urged  the  need  of  internal 
improvements  in  order  to  develop  the  dormant  wealth  of 
the  country.  Practically  Clay  held  that  whatever  needed 
to  be  done  for  the  welfare  of  the  country  was  constitutional, 
unless  the  Constitution  directly  prohibited  it.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  a  long  struggle  between  the  "strict"  and 
"loose"  constructionists,  a  struggle  in  which  the  "loose" 
constructionists  have  usually  won.  Mr.  Clay  ever  rang  the 
changes  on  the  importance  of  opening  up  the  West  to 
settlers  from  the  East.  In  debating  this  question  he  said  : 

Sir,  it  is  a  subject  of  peculiar  delight  to  me  to  look  forward  to  the 
proud  and  happy  period,  distant  as  it  may  be,  when  circulation  and 
association  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  and  the  Mexican 
Gulf  shall  be  as  free  and  perfect  as  they  are  at  this  moment  in 
England,  the  most  highly  improved  country  on  the  globe.  Sir,  a  new 
world  has  come  into  being  since  the  Constitution  was  adopted.  .  .  . 
Are  we  to  neglect  and  refuse  the  redemption  of  that  vast  wilderness 
which  once  stretched  unbroken  beyond  the  Allegheny? 

The  discussion  over  the  admission  of  Missouri  began  in 
1818.  It  was  typical  of  those  that  followed  for  forty  years. 


HENRY  CLAY  163 

The  population  of  the  North  was  growing  much  faster  than 
that  of  the  South,  and  the  latter  section  felt  the  need  of 
more  slave  states,  that  they  might  at  least  maintain  control 
of  the  Senate.  The  result  of  a  long  and  bitter  controversy 
over  the  question  was  the  admission  of  Missouri  with  no 
restriction  as  to  slavery,  but  with  an  agreement  that  there 
should  be  no  slavery  in  any  other  part  of  the  territory  ceded 
by  France  north  of  36°  30',  this  being  the  southern  boundary 
of  Missouri.  This  was  the  famous  Missouri  Compromise. 
This  struggle  brought  out  the  best  energies  of  Clay,  who 
favored  the  compromise.  He  was  untiring  in  his  efforts, 
worked  with  committees,  interviewed  individuals,  and  made 
eloquent  speeches  in  what  he  believed  to  be  the  interest 
of  the  country.  Clay  was  thoroughly  patriotic  and  desired 
above  all  else  to  preserve  the  Union,  which  he  loved  more 
than  he  hated  slavery.  Clay's  action  during  this  contro 
versy  won  for  him  the  title  "the  great  pacificator." 

In  1820  Clay  retired  from  public  life  to  retrieve  his  for 
tunes  through  the  practice  of  his  profession.  Then,  as  now, 
few  public  officials  could  live  upon  their  salaries  if  they  took 
an  active  part  in  affairs.  After  three  years  of  retirement 
Clay  was  again  elected  to  Congress  and  chosen  Speaker. 

The  great  debates  which  led  to  the  tariff  of  1824  were 
participated  in  by  Clay,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  he  was 
Speaker.  During  this  session  he  made  a  speech  on  what 
he  called  the  "American  System,"  which  was  the  most  elab 
orate  he  ever  made.  Of  it  Carl  Schurz  says : 

His  skill  of  statement,  his  ingenuity  in  the  grouping  of  facts  and 
principles,  his  plausibility  of  reasoning,  his  brilliant  imagination,  the 
fervor  of  his  diction,  the  warm  patriotic  tone  of  his  appeals,  make  a 
great  impression. 


1 64  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

Clay,  Adams,  Crawford,  and  Jackson  were  candidates  for 
the  Presidency  in  1824.  No  one  of  them  received  a  majority 
of  the  electoral  votes,  so  the  election  went  to  the  House  of 
Representatives,  which  had  to  choose  from  the  three  receiv 
ing  the  largest  number  of  votes.  This  excluded  Clay,  as  he 
stood  fourth.  Had  the  House  been  free  to  vote  for  whom 
they  chose,  Clay  would  probably  have  been  elected.  As  it 
was,  Clay  cast  his  influence  for  Adams,  who  was  chosen,  to 
the  great  disappointment  of  Jackson,  who  had  received  the 
largest  popular  vote.  Adams  made  Clay  Secretary  of  State, 
and  Jackson  and  his  friends  charged  that  there  had  been  a 
secret  bargain  between  Clay  and  Adams  ;  but  it  is  clear  now, 
and  ought  to  have  been  then,  that  there  was  no  truth  in 
the  charge.  Jackson  had  always  been  a  bitter  enemy  of 
Clay,  and  Crawford  was  a  hopeless  paralytic.  It  is  evident, 
.therefore,  that  Clay  could  not  support  any  other  candidate 
than  Adams.  The  reasons  for  Adams's  appointment  of  Clay 
as  Secretary  of  State  are  given  later  in  Adams's  own  words. 

When  Clay  resigned  the  Speakership  he  received  the 
formal  but  hearty  thanks  of  the  House.  He  had  made  an 
admirable  presiding  officer.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  holder 
of  the  position  has  ever  excelled  him.  His  knowledge  of 
parliamentary  law  and  tactics  was  such  that  he  had  never 
been  overruled.  He  was  prompt  in  his  decisions.  In  the 
stormiest  times  he  was  fair,  courteous,  self -controlled,  and 
held  the  House  in  order. 

The  bitter  and  persistent  attacks  on  Clay  and  Adams 
that  followed  are  worth  reading  as  illustrating  the  theory 
that  "a  lie  well  stuck  to  is  as  good  as  the  truth."  It  may 
be  that  such  reading  will  render  one  less  liable  to  be  carried 
away  by  reckless  charges  against  public  officials.  Towards 


HENRY  CLAY  165 

the  close  of  his  term  of  office  Adams  referred  to  the  attacks 
on  Clay  in  the  following  language  : 

Upon  him  the  foulest  slanders  have  been  showered.  The  Depart 
ment  of  State  itself  was  a  station  which,  by  its  bestowal,  could  confer 
neither  honor  nor  profit  upon  him,  but  upon  which  he  has  shed  un 
fading  honor  by  the  manner  in  which  he  has  discharged  its  duties. 
Prejudice  and  passion  have  charged  him  with  obtaining  that  office  by 
bargain  and  corruption.  Before  you,  my  fellow-citizens,  in  the  pres 
ence  of  our  country  and  Heaven,  I  pronounce  that  charge  totally 
unfounded.  As  to  my  motives  in  tendering  him  the  Department  of 
State  when  I  did,  let  the  man  who  questions  them  come  forward. 
Let  him  look  around  among  the  statesmen  and  legislators  of  the 
nation  and  of  that  day ;  let  him  then  select  and  name  the  man  whom, 
by  his  preeminent  talents,  by  his  splendid  services,  by  his  ardent 
patriotism,  by  his  all-enduring  public  spirit,  by  his  fervid  eloquence 
in  behalf  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  mankind,  by  his  long  experience 
in  the  offices  of  the  Union,  foreign  and  domestic,  a  President  of  the 
United  States,  intent  only  on  the  honor  and  welfare  of  his  country, 
ought  to  have  preferred  to  Henry  Clay. 

In  1828  Jackson  was  elected  by  an  overwhelming  major 
ity.  Washington,  the  Adamses,  Jefferson,  Madison,  and 
Monroe  in  forty-four  years  made  seventy-four  removals  from 
office,  mainly  for  cause.  This  was  an  average  of  less  than 
two  a  year.  In  one  year  Jackson  caused  more  than  two 
thousand  changes  upon  the  theory  that  "to  the  victors 
belong  the  spoils."  Clay  foresaw  the  evil  consequences 
that  would  arise  from  such  a  course  and  raised  his  voice 
against  it.  He  said  it  was  "a  system  of  universal  rapacity 
substituted  for  a  system  of  responsibility,  and  favoritism 
for  fitness."  The  course  pursued  by  Jackson,  the  evils  of 
which  Clay  saw  clearly,  proved  one  of  the  most  harmful, 
and  most  enduring  as  well,  of  all  the  acts  known  to  our 
political  history. 


1 66  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

In  1832  Jackson  ran  against  Clay  and  was  reflected, 
receiving  even  a  larger  majority  than  four  years  before. 
Clay's  defeat  was  due  largely  to  the  hostility  of  the  South 
towards  his  tariff  views,  but  in  part  also  to  the  controversy 
over  the  United  States  Bank  and  to  the  anti-masonic  move 
ment.  It  seemed  as  if  so  crushing  a  defeat  must  end  the 
political  career  of  Clay,  but  he  soon  became  again  the  most 
conspicuous  of  all  the  public  men  of  the  country. 

The  outcome  of  the  Presidential  contest  was  the  intro 
duction  of  a  bill  providing  for  a  sweeping  reduction  of  the 
tariff.  After  long  and  bitter  discussion  Clay  introduced  a 
compromise  measure  providing  for  a  twenty-per-cent  reduc 
tion.  This  was  adopted,  though  not  satisfactory  to  either 
the  protectionists  or  the  free  traders. 

A  bitter  debate  ensued  over  the  deposits  in  the  United 
States  Bank.  It  lasted  three  months,  and  such  able  men 
as  Clay,  Calhoun,  Webster,  and  Ewing  spoke  against  the 
administration  ;  but  Jackson  carried  his  point  and  overthrew 
the  bank  through  such  exercise  of  power  as  no  other  Presi 
dent  would  have  dared  to  exert.  As  a  result  of  the  various 
conflicts  with  the  administration,  and  the  removals  from 
office  which  grew  out  of  them,  Clay  moved  that  in  all 
instances  of  appointment  to  office  by  the  President,  with 
the  consent  of  the  Senate,  the  power  of  removal  should  be 
exercised  only  by  the  consent  of  the  Senate,  save  that  the 
President  might  suspend  an  official  during  a  recess  of  the 
Senate.  He  must,  however,  within  a  month  from  the  begin 
ning  of  its  next  session,  report  to  the  Senate  such  removal 
and  the  cause  for  the  same,  and  if  the  Senate  failed  to 
approve,  the  official  should  be  reinstated.  Clay  was  induced 
not  to  urge  his  amendment,  but  substantially  the  same  act 


HENRY  CLAY  167 

was  passed  during  the  administration  of  Johnson,  more  than 
thirty  years  later. 

In  1836  the  slavery  question,  which  had  been  quieted  by 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  again  arose  in  Congress,  never 
more  to  be  suppressed  so  long  as  slavery  lasted  in  the  United 
States.  Congress  was  flooded  with  petitions  praying  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.  Calhoun  denounced  the  petitions  as  being  incen 
diary  documents  and  moved  that  they  be  not  received.  This 
was  an  arbitrary  refusal  of  rights  older  than  the  government, 
an  act  that  no  free  people  would  submit  to,  whatever  their 
convictions  might  be  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  Recogniz 
ing  this  fact,  Buchanan  moved  that  they  be  received  and 
denied  without  reference  to  any  committee.  Clay,  believ 
ing  in  the  right  of  petition  and  not  believing  in  slavery, 
opposed  both  these  motions,  and  moved  that  the  petitions 
be  received.  This  motion  was  carried,  but  later  Buchanan's 
motion  to  deny  the  petitions  without  their  having  been 
referred  to  a  committee  was  also  carried. 

The  anti-slavery  discussion  soon  took  another  form.  The 
abolition  societies  began  to  circulate  tracts  and  periodicals 
through  the  mails.  In  Charleston  a  mob  broke  open  the 
post  office  and  took  such  of  these  documents  as  they  could 
find  and  destroyed  them.  At  a  public  meeting  at  which 
the  clergy  of  all  denominations  was  represented  the  action 
of  the  mob  was  approved.  The  postmaster  assumed  the 
right  to  prevent  the  circulation  of  such  literature  and  wrote 
to  the  postmaster  at  New  York  asking  him  not  to  forward 
it.  He  wrote  for  instructions  to  the  postmaster-general, 
who  disclaimed  power  to  exclude  such  matter  from  the  mails, 
but  virtually  advised  the  postmasters  to  do  it  on  their  own 


1 68  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

responsibility.  Calhoun  introduced  a  bill  to  make  it  unlaw 
ful  for  any  postmaster  knowingly  to  deliver  to  any  one  any 
printed  paper  touching  slavery,  in  any  state  or  territory 
where  such  publications  were  prohibited.  Clay  denounced 
this  bill,  claiming  that  it  was  unconstitutional  and  fraught 
with  danger  to  the  liberty  of  the  people.  The  bill  was 
defeated  by  a  decisive  vote. 

As  the  discussion  over  slavery  went  on  Clay  seemed 
gradually  to  come  to  the  conviction  that  the  Abolitionists 
were  dangerous  people  ;  he  also  saw  that  he  had  greatly 
injured  his  popularity  with  the  slaveholders.  In  February, 
1839,  ne  presented  a  petition  from  the  inhabitants  of  Wash 
ington  against  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  made  a  speech  which  appeared  to  be  an 
effort  to  win  back  what  he  had  lost  in  urging  the  right  of 
petitioners  to  have  their  petitions  presented  and  fairly  dealt 
with.  The  truth  probably  is  that  slavery  was  wholly  repug 
nant  to  Mr.  Clay  as  a  man,  but  as  a  politician  he  dared  not 
always  show  his  true  feelings. 

Clay  failed  to  secure  the  nomination  for  the  Presidency 
in  1840.  Some  of  Webster's  friends,  the  anti-masons,  some 
of  the  anti-slavery  Whigs,  and  those  politicians  who  wanted 
the  most  "available"  man,  united  on  General  Harrison,  who 
was  nominated  and  elected.  Clay  was  angry  and  had  some 
right  to  be.  His  friends  were  angry,  grieved,  and  disap 
pointed.  Had  Clay  been  nominated  at  this  time,  he  would, 
without  doubt,  have  been  elected,  for  the  great  panic  of  1837 
and  matters  growing  out  of  it  made  it  impossible  for  Van 
Buren  to  be  reflected.  Clay,  notwithstanding  his  disap 
pointment  and  his  real  grievances,  gave  a  loyal  support  to 
the  ticket. 


HENRY  CLAY  169 

Harrison  offered  Clay  the  position  of  Secretary  of  State, 
which  he  declined,  preferring  to  remain  in  the  Senate.  When 
Congress  assembled  Clay  introduced  a  bill  to  repeal  the  sub- 
treasury  act,  but  the  Democrats  had  a  majority  in  the  Senate 
and  the  bill  failed.  Harrison  died  a  month  after  his  inau 
guration  and  was  succeeded  by  Tyler.  Clay  again  introduced 
a  bill  to  repeal  the  sub-treasury  act,  which  passed  and  was 
signed.  A  bill  to  incorporate  a  new  United  States  Bank 
was  passed  and  vetoed.  As  a  result  of  the  veto  all  Tyler's 
cabinet  save  Webster  resigned.  The  indignation  of  the 
Whigs  was  intense.  They  no  longer  recognized  Tyler  as 
a  member  of  their  party.  The  Whig  papers  throughout 
the  country  denounced  him.  He  was  burned  in  effigy  in 
many  places.  Clay  soon  resigned  from  the  Senate  and 
went  to  his  home  at  Ashland. 

Tyler  signed  a  treaty  of  annexation  with  Texas.  The 
primary  if  not  the  sole  purpose  of  annexation  was  the  acqui 
sition  of  more  slave  territory.  The  treaty  was  very  unpop 
ular  at  the  North  and  correspondingly  popular  at  the  South. 
At  this  time  Clay  was  making  a  tour  of  the  country.  He 
was  at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  when  the  treaty  was  made 
public,  and  he  immediately  wrote  a  letter  to  the  National 
Intelligencer  protesting  against  it.  This  letter  was,  of  course, 
unpopular  at  the  South,  and  it  was  not  liked  at  the  North 
because  it  did  not  give  the  extension  of  slavery  as  the  chief 
reason  for  opposing  annexation. 

In  1 844  Clay  was  nominated  by  the  Whigs,  and  Polk  by 
the  Democrats.  The  Liberty  party  nominated  James  G. 
Birney.  Clay  was  again  defeated,  chiefly  because  of  his 
letter  to  Stephen  F.  Miller  of  Alabama  in  which  he  dis 
claimed  any  personal  objection  to  the  annexation  of  Texas. 


170  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

This,  without  doubt,  cost  him  the  vote  of  New  York,  and 
so  the  Presidency.  Mr.  Clay  tried  for  the  nomination  again 
in  1848,  but  it  went  to  General  Taylor.  In  1849  Clay  again 
returned  to  the  Senate  and  at  once  became  foremost  in  all 
debates.  As  was  always  the  case  when  the  discussion  of 
the  slavery  question  became  threatening,  Clay  had  a  com 
promise  measure.  This  time  he  proposed,  as  measures  to 
please  the  North,  the  admission  of  California  as  a  free  state 
and  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia ;  to  placate  the  South  he  recommended  a 
more  efficient  law  for  the  pursuit  and  capture  of  fugitive 
slaves,  and  that  Utah  and  New  Mexico  should  be  left  unre 
stricted  as  to  slavery.  He  appealed  to  the  North  to  make 
concessions,  and  to  the  South  for  peace.  The  debate  that 
followed  was  participated  in  by  all  the  great  members  of 
the  Senate.  The  strongest  speech  against  the  measure 
was  made  by  Calhoun,  the  great  exponent  and  defender  of 
slavery.  It  was  in  this  debate  that  Webster  disappointed, 
grieved,  and  angered  many  of  his  friends  by  denouncing  the 
Abolitionists  and  greatly  modifying  his  previously  expressed 
views  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  Neither  Clay  nor  Webster 
had  kept  pace  with  the  growing  anti-slavery  sentiment  in 
the  North,  and  the  time  was  ripe  for  new  leaders  who  would 
more  correctly  represent  the  people  of  that  section.  Not 
only  new  leaders  but  also  a  new  party  was  called  for, 
and  in  this  debate  the  leaders,  the  harbingers  of  the  party, 
appeared,  —  Seward  with  his  doctrine  of  a  "higher  law  "  and 
Chase  with  a  similar  doctrine.  Clay  and  Webster  had  had 
their  day.  The  Whig  party  had  outlived  its  usefulness. 

Clay's  health  was  broken  by  the  strain  of  this  session  of 
Congress,  and  he  was  far  less  active  in  the  next.     He  went 


HENRY   CLAY  17  I 

to  Cuba  for  his  health,  but  derived  no  benefit  from  the  trip. 
He  died  at  Washington,  June  29,  1852.  For  thirty  years 
he  had  struggled  unsuccessfully  for  the  Presidency,  which 
could  have  added  nothing  to  his  fame  had  he  secured  it, 
while  failure  to  win  it  had  brought  him  much  unhappiness. 
Clay  in  common  with  all  mankind  had  his  faults  and  fail 
ings  ;  he  compromised  his  convictions  at  times  because  of  his 
craving  for  the  Presidency,  but  always  and  everywhere  his 
love  for  the  Union  was  unshaken  and  his  patriotism  beyond 
suspicion.  No  man  ever  loved  his  country  more  or  served 
her  better  through  a  long  life.  No  other  American  ever 
exerted  so  great  an  influence  for  so  long  a  time ;  no  other 
name  is  more  thoroughly  or  more  honorably  interwoven 
with  his  country's  history.  If  one  now  wonders  at  Clay's 
apparently  vacillating  policy  on  the  question  of  slavery,  he 
should  not  forget  that  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for 
those  now  living  to  appreciate  the  bitterness  of  those  times 
and  the  great  danger  of  the  disruption  of  the  government. 
Clay  regarded  the  overthrow  of  the  Union  as  the  greatest 
possible  evil,  and  he  was  prepared  to  make  any  necessary 
sacrifice  to  avert  it.  He  said  : 

I  owe  a  paramount  allegiance  to  the  whole  Union,  —  a  subordinate 
one  to  my  own  state.  When  my  state  is  right  —  when  it  has  cause 
for  resistance,  when  tyranny  and  wrong  and  oppression  insufferable 
arise —  I  will  then  share  her  fortunes  ;  but  if  she  summons  me  to  the 
battlefield,  or  to  support  her  in  any  cause  which  is  unjust,  against  the 
Union,  never,  never  will  I  engage  with  her  in  such  a  cause. 


Benjamin  Franklin 


172 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN 

1706-1790 

FOR  more  than  three  centuries  there  lived  in  the  little 
village  of  Ecton  in  Northamptonshire,  England,  a  family 
by  the  name  of  Franklin.  In  every  generation  the  eldest 
son  became  a  blacksmith.  Josiah,  the  father  of  Benjamin, 
was  a  dyer,  but  on  coming  to  America  he  became  a  tallow 
chandler  and  soap  boiler.  Benjamin  was  his  fifteenth  child. 

Franklin's  mother  was  Abiah  Folger  and  was  Josiah's 
second  wife.  Her  husband  was  a  rather  narrow-minded 
Puritan,  although  a  man  of  sterling  character,  and  it  is  not 
surprising,  perhaps,  that  the  young  Franklin  should  have 
revolted  against  the  rigid  beliefs  of  his  father. 

The  boy's  early  life  was  a  struggle  with  poverty,  diffi 
culties,  and  hardships.  The  house  in  which  he  was  born 
was  a  two-story  building  of  four  rooms,  —  a  kitchen,  an 
attic,  and  two  other  rooms,  each  twenty  feet  square.  It 
is  a  little  difficult  to  see  how  a  family  of  the  size  of 
Franklin's  could  be  made  comfortable  in  such  quarters, 
but  it  seems  to  have  been  a  happy  home.  It  is  true  that 
Benjamin  quarreled  with  his  half-brother  James,  and  their 
relations  seem  not  to  have  been  very  cordial  after  that ;  but 
the  Franklins  were  noted  for  strong  family  affection. 

Benjamin  had  a  good  home,  good  instruction,  and  access 
to  good  books.  He  was  a  precocious  boy  and  inordinately 

173 


174  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

fond  of  reading.  When  a  man  grown  he  said,  "  I  do  not 
remember  when  I  could  not  read,  so  it  must  have  been  very 
early."  In  his  boyhood  he  read  Bunyan's  "  Pilgrim's  Prog 
ress  "  and  "  Holy  War,"  Defoe's  «  Essay  on  Projects,"  Bur 
ton's  "  Historical  Collections,"  Plutarch's  "  Lives,"  Mather's 


Birthplace  of  Franklin 
From  Antique  Views  of  Ye  Towne  of  Boston 

"  Essay  to  do  Good,"  and  many  other  works.  During  his 
whole  life  Franklin  was  an  omnivorous  reader,  notwith 
standing  that  he  advised  people  to  "  read  much,  but  not 
too  many  books." 

He  was  not  a  particularly  promising  young  man,  con 
sidered  from  either  a  religious  or  a  moral  standpoint.     He 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN  175 

had  no  sympathy  with  the  theological  doctrines  generally 
held  in  Boston  in  his  time,  and  his  conservative  elders  pre 
dicted  that  little  good  would  be  said  of  him. 

When  only  seven  years  old  Franklin  was  given  his  first 
spending  money  and  allowed  to  use  it  as  he  chose.  The 
following  is  his  account  of  the  affair: 

When  I  was  a  child  of  seven  years  old,  my  friends,  on  a  holiday, 
filled  my  pockets  with  coppers.  I  went  directly  to  a  shop  where  they 
sold  toys  for  children,  and  being  charmed  with  the  sound  of  a  whistle, 
that  I  met  by  the  way  in  the  hands  of  another  boy,  I  voluntarily  offered 
and  gave  all  my  money  for  one.  I  then  came  home  and  went  whis 
tling  all  over  the  house,  much  pleased  with  my  whistle,  but  disturbing 
all  the  family.  My  brothers  and  sisters  and  cousins,  understanding 
the  bargain  that  I  had  made,  told  me  that  I  had  given  four  times  as 
much  for  it  as  it  was  worth,  put  me  in  mind  what  good  things  I  might 
have  bought  with  the  rest  of  my  money,  and  laughed  at  me  so  much 
for  my  folly  that  I  cried  with  vexation,  and  the  reflection  gave  more 
chagrin  than  the  whistle  gave  me  pleasure. 

This,  however,  was  of  use  to  me,  the  impression  continuing  on  my 
mind  ;  so  that  often  when  I  was  tempted  to  buy  some  unnecessary 
thing,  I  said  to  myself,  "  Don't  give  too  much  for  the  whistle";  so  I 
saved  my  money. 

As  I  grew  up,  came  into  the  world,  and  observed  the  actions  of 
men,  I  thought  I  met  with  many,  very  many,  who  gave  too  much  for 
the  whistle. 

At  eight  years  of  age  Franklin  was  sent  to  a  grammar 
school.  Afterwards  he  went  to  a  famous  school  kept  by 
George  Brownell,  to  learn  writing  and  arithmetic.  At  ten 
years  of  age  he  was  taken  from  school  and  put  at  work  in 
his  father's  shop.  This  he  hated  and  wanted  to  go  to  sea,  as 
some  of  his  uncles  had  done.  His  passion  for  the  sea  was 
so  strong  that  his  father  feared  the  lad  would  run  away,  so 
he  looked  about  for  some  other  business  which  might  be 


176  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

more  congenial.  He  finally  concluded  that  as  Benjamin  was 
so  fond  of  reading  he  might  like  to  become  a  printer,  and 
accordingly  apprenticed  him  to  his  half-brother  James,  who 
had  recently  returned  from  England,  where  he  had  learned 
the  trade.  James  Franklin  was  an  excellent  printer  and 
did  some  of  the  best  work  of  his  time. 

Franklin  was  twelve  years  of  age  when  he  was  appren 
ticed  to  his  brother.  He  was  to  serve  till  he  was  twenty- 
one  years  old  and  to  receive  journeyman's  wages  during 
the  last  year  only.  One  of  the  advantages  of  the  new  work 
to  Franklin  was  the  increased  opportunities  that  it  gave 
him  for  reading.  From  this  time  he  earned  his  own  living 
and  relied  upon  himself.  His  brother,  being  a  bachelor,  had 
to  pay  for  his  apprentice's  board,  and  Franklin,  who  had 
been  greatly  impressed  by  a  book  advocating  a  vegetable 
diet,  offered  to  board  himself  if  he  might  be  allowed  half 
of  what  his  brother  was  then  paying.  Out  of  this  small 
allowance  Benjamin  saved  half  and  used  it  to  buy  books. 
At  the  same  time  he  was  forming  the  habit  of  living  on 
simple  fare,  —  a  habit  which  he  kept  up  for  many  years  and 
which  no  doubt  contributed  to  his  long  life  and  good  health. 

In  1 729  James  Franklin  began  the  publication  of  a  paper 
called  the  New  England  Courant,  though  his  friends  advised 
against  it,  saying  that  one  paper  was  enough  for  America. 
That  seems  strange  advice  to  us  who  are  living  at  a  time 
when  there  are  about  twenty-five  thousand  papers  published 
in  the  United  States.  Benjamin  wrote  some  anonymous 
articles  for  his  brother's  paper,  which  attracted  consider 
able  attention.  About  the  same  time  he  wrote  some  verses, 
among  them  "The  Lighthouse  Tragedy,"  which  his  brother 
printed,  and  which  had  a  considerable  sale.  This  made 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN  177 

Franklin  a  little  vain,  but  his  father  read  them  over  with 
him  and  pointed  out  the  faults  so  clearly  that  Benjamin 
had  no  further  desire  to  write  verse.  He  then  attempted 
prose,  and  a  young  man  named  Collins  and  himself  carried  on 
an  argument  through  correspondence  for  mutual  improve 
ment  in  writing.  This  work  Franklin's  father  also  criti 
cised,  commending  some  things  and  condemning  others. 
About  this  time  Franklin  came  across  an  odd  volume  of 
the  Spectator,  and  was  so  pleased  with  it  that  he  resolved 
to  copy  its  style.  To  do  this  he  would  first  write  out  the 
story  in  verse,  and  then  after  he  had  almost  forgotten 
the  prose,  turn  the  verse  into  prose  and  compare  it  with 
the  original. 

When  Franklin  was  about  sixteen  years  old,  one  of  his 
brother's  patrons,  Matthew  Adams,  came  to  regard  him  as 
a  very  talented  boy  and  invited  him  to  make  free  use  of  his 
library.  From  that  time,  so  long  as  he  remained  in  Boston, 
Franklin  reveled  in  books. 

Soon  after  the  establishment  of  the  New  England  Cou- 
rant,  James  Franklin  became  engaged  in  a  controversy  with 
some  of  the  most  prominent  Boston  clergymen,  and  printed 
an  article  which,  by  implication,  reflected  on  the  civil  authori 
ties.  For  this  he  was  taken  into  custody,  imprisoned  for 
four  weeks,  and  publicly  censured.  Neither  the  imprison 
ment  nor  the  censure  seems  to  have  had  much  effect,  for 
he  continued  to  publish  many  articles  which  shocked  the 
people  and  "  injuriously  reflected  on  the  reverend  and  faith 
ful  ministers  of  the  Gospel  and  his  majesty's  government." 
James  was  again  imprisoned  and  forbidden  to  publish  the 
Courant,  or  any  pamphlet  or  paper  of  like  nature,  without 
its  having  been  approved  by  the  secretary  of  the  province. 


178  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

At  this  time  Boston  was  a  town  of  about  twelve  thousand 
inhabitants  and  was  practically  ruled  by  the  Calvinistic 
ministers. 

As  James  Franklin  was  not  allowed  to  publish  the  Cou- 
mnt,  it  was  decided  to  issue  it  in  Benjamin's  name.  It  would 
hardly  have  done  to  issue  it  in  the  name  of  an  apprentice, 
for  that  would  have  been  a  very  palpable  evasion  of  the 
order  of  the  Assembly ;  so  Benjamin's  indenture  was  can 
celed  with  the  understanding  that  he  was  to  sign  new  arti 
cles  which  should  be  kept  secret.  Franklin  edited  the  paper 
during  his  brother's  imprisonment,  and  was,  perhaps,  the 
youngest  editor  the  country  has  ever  known. 

Although  the  brothers  were  agreed  in  the  fight  with  the 
church  and  the  state,  they  were  at  odds  in  most  other 
respects.  James  was  overbearing,  ill-natured,  and  abusive. 
They  had  many  quarrels  and  their  father  usually  sided 
with  Benjamin.  Finally  their  quarrels  grew  so  bitter  that 
Benjamin,  feeling  sure  that  his  brother  would  not  dare  to 
present  the  papers  that  had  been  kept  secret,  declared  that 
his  indenture  had  been  canceled  and  that  he  was  free  to  do 
as  he  chose.  His  brother,  however,  had  sufficient  influence 
to  prevent  his  being  employed  by  any  one  else  in  Boston. 
In  this  quarrel  the  father  sided  with  James.  Later  in  life 
Franklin  admitted  that  he  had  been  wrong,  and  also  that 
he  had  given  his  brother  much  provocation.  So  strongly 
did  he  feel  this  that  he  made  good  what  he  thought  had 
been  James's  financial  loss  in  the  matter. 

Being  unable  to  get  work  in  Boston,  Benjamin  ran  away, 
going  by  sloop  to  New  York.  Here  also  he  was  unable  to 
obtain  employment,  so  he  went  on  to  Philadelphia,  where  he 
was  employed  by  a  printer  by  the  name  of  Samuel  Keimer. 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN  179 

Franklin  was  a  man  of  far  greater  skill  than  any  printer 
then  in  Philadelphia,  and  was  besides  remarkable  for  his 
wit,  good  nature,  and  intelligence.  His  work  attracted 
much  attention.  By  chance  a  letter  of  his  was  brought  to 
the  notice  of  Sir  William  Keith,  governor  of  the  province. 
He  thought  Franklin  a  promising  young  man  who  should 
be  encouraged,  and  advised  him  to  start  in  business  on  his 
own  account,  promising  him  the  public  business  if  he  did, 
and  also  to  aid  him  in  all  other  ways  in  his  power. 

Franklin  doubted  if  he  could  obtain  any  assistance,  but 
finally  decided  to  return  to  Boston  and  see  what  he  could 
accomplish.  He  took  a  letter  from  the  governor  to  his 
father.  His  people  were  glad  to  see  him,  as  they  had  heard 
nothing  from  him  since  he  left  and  were  fearful  that  he 
was  dead.  He  received  a  warm  welcome,  but  although  his 
father  was  very  much  pleased  with  the  governor's  good 
report,  he  positively  refused  to  give  the  young  man  any 
money.  He  advised  him  to  return  to  Philadelphia  and  by 
hard  work  and  strict  economy  to  save  money  so  that  by 
the  time  he  was  twenty-one  he  might  go  into  business  for 
himself,  promising  to  aid  him  then  if  necessary. 

On  his  return  Benjamin  worked  some  time  for  Keimer, 
but  finally  went  to  England,  Governor  Keith  agreeing  to 
give  him  a  letter  of  credit  and  letters  of  introduction  to 
a  number  of  his  friends.  Franklin  reached  London  on 
Christmas  Eve,  1724,  only  to  find  that  he  had  been  de 
ceived  and  that  Governor  Keith  was  wholly  without  credit 
in  that  city.  He  at  once  secured  employment  at  Palmer's, 
a  famous  printing  house.  Here  he  was  known  as  "the 
water  American,"  from  the  fact  that  he  drank  nothing 
stronger  than  water.  The  other  workmen  were  "  great 


l8o  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

guzzlers  of  beer,"  Franklin  tells  us.  He  was  asked  if  all 
Americans  were  like  him  in  the  matter  of  drink,  and  replied, 
"  No,  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  a  great  many  of  them  are 
like  you." 

After  spending  eighteen  months  in  London  Franklin 
had  a  good  business  offer  from  a  Philadelphia  merchant 
and  returned  to  that  city;  but  his  employer  soon  died  and 
he  was  again  without  work. 

Keimer  offered  him  good  wages  to  superintend  his  print 
ing  office  and  he  accepted  the  position.  He  found  that 
Keimer  had  a  number  of  apprentices  at  very  small  pay 
but  with  an  agreement  to  raise  their  wages  as  they  increased 
in  skill.  Franklin  saw  that  Keimer's  plan  was  to  stimu 
late  his  apprentices  to  make  all  possible  progress,  and  then 
as  soon  as  the  business  was  in  good  working  shape  to  dis 
pense  with  his  services,  and  it  so  proved.  In  fact,  as  soon 
as  Keimer  felt  he  could  get  on  without  him  he  provoked 
a  quarrel  and  Franklin  left,  Keimer  regretting  that  he  had 
bound  himself  to  keep  him  as  long  as  he  did. 

Franklin  now  planned  to  return  to  Boston,  but  Hugh 
Meredith,  one  of  Keimer's  men,  whose  apprenticeship  would 
soon  expire,  came  to  him  and  proposed  that  they  go  into 
partnership,  Meredith's  father  to  furnish  the  money.  This 
was  agreed  upon,  and  in  the  summer  of  1728  appeared  the 
sign  "  B.  Franklin  and  H.  Meredith."  They  received  some 
patronage  from  friends,  but  Franklin  was  not  the  kind  of 
man  to  rely  upon  such  support.  In  December  the  annual 
speech  of  the  governor  was  printed  by  Andrew  Bradford, 
the  public  printer,  in  a  very  slovenly  and  bungling  manner. 
Franklin  at  once  reprinted  it,  of  course  without  pay,  in 
the  very  best  manner  possible,  and  sent  a  copy  to  each 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN 


181 


member  of  the  Assembly.  The  contrast  in  the  work  was 
so  great  that  Franklin  secured  the  public  printing  for  the 
following  year.  Through  the  excellence  of  their  work  the 
firm  was  given  the  public  printing  for  Delaware  and  New 
Jersey  as  well. 

Franklin,  remembering  his  boyhood  experience  with 
the  New  England  Courant,  planned  to  start  a  paper,  but 
Keimer,  learning  of  it, 
forestalled  him  and 
late  in  1728  issued  the 
first  number  of  the 
Universal  Instructor  in 
All  Arts  and  Sciences, 
the  Pennsylvania  Ga 
zette.  It  proved  a  losing 
venture,  and  when  the 
thirty-ninth  number 
was  reached  the  paper 
was  sold  to  Franklin, 
who  kept  only  the  lat 
ter  part  of  the  title, 
the  Pennsylvania  Ga 
zette.  He  made  it  a 
semi-weekly  paper  for 
a  time  ;  but  there  did 


Franklin  s  Printing  Press 


not  seem  to  be  a  demand  for  such  frequent  publication,  and 
it  was  soon  made  a  weekly  again.  The  semi-weekly  edi 
tion  was  the  first  published  in  America.  The  paper  was 
very  popular  and  its  circulation  reached  from  Virginia  to 
New  York,  being  larger  than  any  other  paper  in  the  coun 
try.  It  was  remarkable  for  its  brilliant  and  original  articles. 


1 82  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

Franklin  achieved  this  great  success  when  he  was  only 
twenty-three  years  old. 

Franklin's  most  successful  publication  was  "  Poor  Rich 
ard's  Almanac."  It  was  begun  in  December,  1732,  and 
continued  for  twenty-five  years  with  an  average  sale  of  ten 
thousand  copies,  which  was  very  remarkable  when  we  con 
sider  the  conditions  at  that  time.  The  population  of  the 
country  was  small  and  widely  scattered.  The  mail  facilities 
amounted  to  but  little.  Nearly  all  the  people  were  poor, 
and  there  was  comparatively  little  reading  done.  The 
almanac  became  one  of  the  most  influential  publications 
in  the  world.  Seventy-five  editions  have  been  printed  in 
English,  fifty-six  in  French,  eleven  in  German,  and  nine 
in  Italian.  It  has  been  translated  into  Spanish,  Danish, 
Swedish,  Welsh,  Polish,  Gaelic,  Russian,  Bohemian,  Dutch, 
Catalan,  Chinese,  modern  Greek,  French,  German,  Italian, 
and  phonetic  writing.  It  has  been  printed  more  than  four 
hundred  times  and  is  still  popular. 

Franklin  established  printing  offices  in  other  places,  put 
ting  each  in  charge  of  some  competent  and  promising  jour 
neyman  printer,  furnishing  the  capital  and  having  a  part  of 
the  profits.  In  nearly  every  case  the  printer  prospered  so 
that  in  a  few  years  he  was  able  to  buy  the  establishment. 

In  Philadelphia  Franklin  organized  a  club  known  as  the 
Junto,  composed  of  bright  young  men  who  met  every 
Friday  evening.  Each  member,  in  turn,  was  required  to 
bring  for  discussion  some  question  of  morals,  politics,  or 
natural  philosophy.  Once  in  three  months  each  member 
was  required  to  read  an  essay,  taking  whatever  subject 
he  chose.  This  club  not  only  was  of  great  value  to  its 
members  but  also  became  a  power  in  Philadelphia. 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN  183 

In  1730  Franklin  married  Deborah  Reid,  with  whom  he 
lived  happily  for  forty-four  years.  During  their  early  married 
life  they  lived  in  the  most  frugal  manner  over  his  shop.  Their 
furniture  was  limited  in  amount  and  of  the  plainest  kind. 
For  a  long  time  Franklin's  breakfast  consisted  of  only  bread 
and  milk. 

At  thirty  years  of  age  Franklin  had  become  one  of  the 
leading  citizens  of  Philadelphia.  He  owned  a  printing  estab 
lishment,  edited  and  published  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette, 
issued  "Poor  Richard's  Almanac"  annually,  and  was  at  the 
same  time  postmaster  of  the  city  and  clerk  of  the  Assembly. 

While  Franklin  wrote  much  on  a  great  variety  of  sub 
jects  and  carried  on  an  extensive  correspondence  with 
learned  men  and  societies,  he  is  best  known  by  his  auto 
biography  and  as  the  writer  of  "  Poor  Richard's  Almanac." 
Among  the  brightest  things  written  by  Franklin  are  "The 
Whistle,"  "The  Dialogue  with  the  Gout,"  "The  Morals  of 
Chess,"  and  several  other  essays  written  when  he  was  in 
France  for  the  amusement  of  his  intimate  friends  and  not 
intended  for  publication.  He  also  wrote  much  on  scientific 
subjects.  His  letters  to  his  wife  when  he  was  in  Europe 
are  very  interesting  and  are  well  worth  reading. 

The  following  extracts  from  "  Poor  Richard  "  show  to  what 
extent  Franklin's  sayings  have  entered  into  common  use. 

Many  a  little  makes  a  mickle. 
Little  strokes  fell  great  oaks. 
Lost  time  is  never  found  again. 
There  are  no  gains  without  pains. 
One  to-day  is  worth  two  to-morrows. 
The  doors  of  wisdom  are  never  shut. 
He  that  hath  a  trade  hath  an  estate. 
Constant  dropping  wears  away  stones. 


1 84  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

A  small  leak  will  sink  a  great  ship. 
God  helps  them  that  help  themselves. 
Diligence  is  the  mother  of  good  luck. 
Who  dainties  love  shall  beggars  prove. 

He  that  by  the  plow  would  thrive, 
Himself  must  either  hold  or  drive. 

The  sleeping  fox  catches  no  poultry. 

Early  to  bed  and  early  to  rise, 

Makes  a  man  healthy,  wealthy,  and  wise- 

For  age  and  want  save  while  you  may  ; 
No  morning  sun  lasts  the  whole  day. 

Three  can  keep  a  secret  if  two  are  dead. 

Plow  deep  while  sluggards  sleep, 

And  you  shall  have  corn  to  sell  and  keep. 

Fools  make  feasts  and  wise  men  eat  them. 

Keep  thy  shop  and  thy  shop  will  keep  thee. 

Drive  thy  business,  let  not  that  drive  thee. 

Creditors  have  better  memories  than  debtors. 

Virtue  and  a  trade  are  a  child's  best  portion. 

Rather  go  to  bed  supperless  than  rise  in  debt. 

Many  have  been  ruined  by  buying  good  pennyworths. 

Employ  thy  time  well  if  thou  meanst  to  gain  leisure. 

Sloth  makes  all  things  difficult,  but  industry  all  easy. 

Want  of  care  does  us  more  damage  than  want  of  knowledge. 

A  life  of  leisure  and  a  life  of  laziness  are  two  things. 

If  you  would  be  wealthy  think  of  saving  as  well  as  getting. 

The  eye  of  the  master  will  do  more  work  than  both  his  hands. 

Experience  keeps  a  dear  school,  but  fools  will  learn  in  no  other. 

Sloth,  like  rust,  consumes  faster  than  labor  wears,  while  the  used 
key  is  always  bright. 

He  that  riseth  late  must  trot  all  day  and  shall  scarce  overtake  his 
business  at  night. 

But  dost  thou  love  life,  then  do  not  squander  time,  for  that  is  the 
stuff  life  is  made  of. 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN  185 

As  SCIENTIST  AND  INVENTOR 

At  forty-two  years  of  age  Franklin  took  a  partner  to 
look  after  the  printing,  that  he  might  devote  himself  to 
science.  He  was  already  widely  known  as  a  philosopher. 
From  this  time  on  his  advancement  in  science  was  so 
rapid  that  he  was  soon  widely  known  throughout  America 
and  Europe,  and  he  became  one  of  the  most  noted  philoso 
phers  in  the  world.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  London  in  1753,  and  the  following  year 
it  bestowed  upon  him  the  Copley  medal  for  his  discoveries 
in  electricity. 

Both  Yale  and  Harvard  conferred  upon  him  the  degree 
of  Master  of  Arts.  The  Academy  of  Science  of  Paris 
made  him  an  associate  member.  All  the  learned  societies 
of  Europe  admitted  him  to  their  ranks.  Kant  called  him 
the  "Prometheus  of  modern  times."  Later  the  universities 
of  St.  Andrews,  London,  and  Edinburgh  conferred  upon 
him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  American  universities, 
colleges,  legislatures,  and  literary  societies  gave  him  their 
highest  honors. 

Franklin  seemed  to  be  always  eager  to  know  the  why 
and  wherefore  of  every  occurrence  the  meaning  of  which 
was  not  clearly  apparent.  He  sought  at  once  to  make 
every  new  discovery  or  idea  of  practical  value  to  mankind. 
His  mind  was  so  alert,  his  grasp  so  remarkable,  his  dis 
position  to  turn  everything  to  practical  account  so  pro 
nounced  that  had  he  lived  in  our  time  he  might  easily 
have  rivaled  Edison  in  the  number  of  his  inventions,  and 
had  he  chosen  to  use  his  genius  to  make  money  his  wealth 
might  have  been  almost  beyond  belief.  However,  he  never 


1 86  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

patented  anything  or  sought  in  any  way  to  profit  by  his 
inventions.  When  the  governor  of  Pennsylvania  offered 
him  a  patent  for  his  open  stove  he  declined  it,  saying,  "As 
we  enjoy  great  advantages  from  the  inventions  of  others, 
we  should  be  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  serve  others  by 
any  inventions  of  ours;  and  this  we  should  do  freely  and 
generously." 

Just  how  generous  this  act  was  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
a  London  dealer  made  some  slight  changes  in  the  stove, 
which  Franklin  claimed  lessened  rather  than  increased  its 
value,  patented  it  in  England,  and  made  a  small  fortune 
from  it. 

Franklin  once  said  :  "  It  is  incredible  the  amount  of  good 
that  may  be  done  in  a  country  by  a  single  man  who  will 
make  a  business  of  it  and  not  suffer  himself  to  be  diverted 
from  that  purpose  by  different  avocations,  studies,  or  amuse 
ments." 

Perhaps  he  himself,  though  he  had  many  avocations  and 
studies  to  divert  his  mind,  best  illustrates  his  statement. 
Thevalmost  incredible  activity  of  his  mind  and  the  great 
range  of  his  thought  are  indicated  by  the  following  list  — 
for  there  is  not  space  in  this  sketch  for  more  than  a  mere 
list  —  of  the  more  important  inventions  and  actions  of 
Franklin.  In  considering  this  it  should  be  borne  in  mind 
that  this  was  the  work  of  the  leisure  hours  of  a  very  busy 
man  who  not  only  had  his  private  business  to  look  after  but 
who  also  devoted  the  best  part  of  his  life  to  the  service  of 
the  public.  Well  might  Paul  Leicester  Ford  call  him  the 
"many-sided  Franklin,"  and  Bancroft  say  of  him,  "Not 
half  his  merits  has  been  told."  It  seems  incredible  that  one 
man  could  do  so  much. 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN  187 

He  originated  the  lightning  rod. 

He  promoted  the  early  culture  of  silk. 

He  founded  the  American  Philosophical  Society. 

He  created  the  post-office  system  of  America. 

He  was  the  first  champion  of  reformed  spelling. 

He  determined  the  temperature  of  the  Gulf  Stream. 

He  suggested  the  use  of  mineral  fertilizers. 

He  introduced  the  basket  willow  into  this  country. 

He  was  the  first  to  make  systematic  use  of  advertising. 

He  recommended  the  use  of  white  clothing  for  hot  weather. 

He  laid  the  foundation  for  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

He  discovered  the  identity  of  lightning  and  electricity. 

He  discovered  that  northeast  storms  may  begin  in  the  southwest. 

He  was  the  first  to  recommend  the  use  of  oil  to  make  rough  seas 
smooth. 

He  was  the  first  to  recommend  building   ships  with  water-tight 
compartments. 

He  founded  the  Philadelphia  library,  the  parent  of  a  thousand  others. 

He  was  the  first  to  suggest  that  the  aurora  was  an  electrical  mani 
festation. 

He  established  and  inspired  the  Junto,  the  most  useful  of  all 
American  clubs. 

He  established  the  first  fire  company  and  the  first  insurance  com 
pany  in  Philadelphia. 

He  published  "  Poor  Richard's  Almanac,"  which  made  thousands 
of  its  readers  better  and  stronger  men. 

He  invented  the  Franklin  stove,  which  heated  rooms  better  than 
was  possible  before  and  with  the  consumption  of  much  less  fuel. 

He  performed  countless  experiments,  the  most  famous  one  being 
that  with  the  kite  during  a  thunderstorm. 

Franklin  was  in  constant  correspondence  with  scientific 
men  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  He  wrote  much  on  such 
subjects  as  sun  spots,  shooting  stars,  light,  heat,  fire,  elec 
tricity,  air,  evaporation,  the  tides,  rainfall,  geology,  winds, 
whirlwinds,  waterspouts,  ventilation,  and  sound. 


1 88  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

As  POLITICIAN  AND  DIPLOMAT 

In  speaking  of  public  office  Franklin  said  :  "  I  never  refused 
one  that  I  was  capable  of  executing  when  public  service 
was  in  question ;  and  I  never  bargained  for  salary,  but  con 
tented  myself  with  whatever  my  constituents  were  pleased 
to  allow  me."  On  another  occasion  he  said,  "  I  shall  never 
ask,  never  refuse,  nor  ever  resign  an  office."  Franklin 
believed  in  the  doctrine  "  to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils"  ; 
at  least  he  practiced  it.  When  he  was  postmaster-general 
he  appointed  one  of  his  brothers  postmaster  of  Boston  and 
another  postmaster  of  Philadelphia,  and  upon  the  death  of 
the  latter  made  his  widow  postmistress,  probably  the  first 
woman  in  this  country  to  hold  a  political  office.  Through 
out  his  life  Franklin  secured  many  political  offices  for  his 
relatives. 

In  1736  he  was  chosen  clerk  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  Pennsylvania,  a  position  that  he  held  for  fourteen  years 
and  one  which  gave  him  opportunity  to  widen  his  acquaint 
ance  with  public  men. 

In  1737  Franklin  was  made  postmaster  of  Philadelphia. 

In  1753  he  was  made  postmaster-general  of  the  colonies 
for  England. 

In  1754  commissioners  from  the  different  colonies  met 
at  Albany  to  confer  with  the  "Six  Nations"  in'regard  to 
defense  against  the  French.  At  this  Albany  Congress 
there  were  present  as  delegates  twenty-five  of  the  leading 
men  of  the  colonies,  Franklin  among  the  number.  He 
presented  a  plan  for  a  general  government,  to  be  admin 
istered  by  a  president-general  appointed  and  supported  by 
the  crown  and  a  congress  chosen  by  the  assemblies  of  the 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN  189 

various  colonies.  This  plan  was  unanimously  adopted  by 
the  congress  but  rejected  by  the  government  in  England. 

In  1757  Franklin  was  sent  to  England  as  agent  for  the 
colony  of  Pennsylvania  and  acted  in  that  capacity  year  after 
year.  He  also  acted  as  agent  for  Massachusetts,  New 
Jersey,  and  Georgia.  He  put  forth  his  best  efforts  to  pre 
vent  war  between  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country, 
going  so  far  at  times  as  to  be  distrusted  by  both  countries, 
but  when  war  became  inevitable  he  was  foremost  in  all 
efforts  looking  to  the  success  of  the  colonies.  He  urged 
their  immediate  union  in  the  contest  with  England,  as  at 
an  earlier  date  he  had  urged  their  union  for  mutual  help  in 
their  contests  with  the  French  and  Indians. 

Franklin  early  said  : 

I  have  long  been  of  the  opinion  that  the  foundations  of  the  future 
grandeur  and  stability  of  the  British  Empire  lie  in  America;  and 
though,  like  other  foundations,  they  are  low  and  little  now,  they  are 
nevertheless  broad,  and  strong  enough  to  support  the  greatest  polit 
ical  structure  that  human  wisdom  ever  yet  erected. 

Just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  and  after  it 
was  evident  that  Franklin  could  no  longer  serve  the  colo 
nies  in  England,  he  returned  to  America  and  was  chosen  a 
member  of  the  Continental  Congress.  He  was  at  this  time 
sixty-nine  years  old  and  one  of  the  most  illustrious  men  in 
America.  He  was  made  postmaster-general  and  also  a  mem 
ber  of  many  important  committees.  As  postmaster-general 
he  made  great  improvements  in  the  service,  lowered  the 
rate  of  postage,  advertised  unclaimed  letters,  increased  the 
number  of  mails,  lessened  the  time  of  transmission,  and 
opened  the  mails  to  all  newspapers.  He  personally  visited 
every  post  office  in  the  country  save  the  one  at  Charleston. 


SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly, 
chosen  president  of  the  Pennsylvania  Convention,  and  made 
chairman  of  the  Pennsylvania  Committee  of  Safety,  with 
duties  similar  to  those  of  a  governor. 

Franklin  was  not  a  good  speaker.  He  says  of  himself : 
"  I  was  but  a  bad  speaker,  never  eloquent,  subject  to  much 
hesitation  in  the  choice  of  my  words,  hardly  correct  in  lan 
guage,  and  yet  I  generally  carried  my  points."  Jefferson 
speaks  of  his  service  with  Franklin  and  Washington  and 
says  :  "  I  never  heard  either  of  them  speak  ten  minutes  at 
a  time,  nor  to  any  but  the  main  point,  which  was  to  decide 
the  question." 

It  was  desirable  to  cultivate  the  most  friendly  relations 
with  France,  and  all  agreed  that  Franklin  was  the  man  to 
send  there.  He  had  traveled  in  that  country,  had  many 
friends  there,  and  knew  the  language.  The  history  of  his 
efforts  in  France,  which  were  crowned  with  success,  is  too 
long  to  be  told  in  detail  here.  His  influence  with  the 
French  ministry  was  very  great.  A  historian  of  American 
diplomacy  says  that  Franklin  is  the  only  true  diplomat 
that  America  has  produced.  His  duties  as  minister  to 
France  were  multifarious.  He  was  practically  Secretary 
of  the  Navy.  He  purchased  supplies,  fitted  out  expeditions, 
gave  commissions,  sold  prizes,  raised  money,  settled  disputes, 
in  fact  he  was  the  American  government  in  France  so  far 
as  such  matters  were  concerned.  He  was  the  greatest  finan 
cier  of  the  Revolution.  While  his  personal  contributions 
were  insignificant  compared  with  those  of  Robert  Morris,  his 
success  in  getting  financial  aid  from  the  French  was  marvel 
ous,  and  without  it  the  American  cause  must  apparently 
have  failed. 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN  191 

Franklin  was  so  popular  in  France  that  his  picture  was 
found  in  thousands  of  French  homes ;  and  the  Franklin  stove 
was  largely  used,  quite  as  much  on  account  of  its  inventor 
as  on  account  of  its  value.  Poets  wrote  sonnets  in  his  honor, 
noble  dames  addressed  him  in  verse,  and  all  classes  sought 
every  opportunity  to  speak  with  him  or  to  see  him. 

Franklin  was  benevolent,  sincere,  and  just  in  his  dealings, 
abhorring  deceit,  flattery,  falsehood,  injustice,  and  dishonesty. 
He  differed  from  most  self-educated  men  in  that  he  was 
broad  and  liberal  in  his  views,  respectful  towards  the  opinions 
of  others,  even  when  he  thought  them  wrong,  and  always 
open  to  new  convictions.  When  he  was  in  Europe  he  became 
intimately  acquainted  with  Priestley,  Price,  Adam  Smith, 
Hume,  Robertson,  Burke,  Pratt,  Lord  Kames,  Buff  on,  Vol 
taire,  and  many  other  noted  men. 

When  chosen  president  of  Pennsylvania  at  the  age  of 
seventy-nine  he  wrote  to  a  friend  in  England  : 

I  had  on  my  return  some  right  to  expect  repose  ;  and  it  was  my 
intention  to  avoid  all  public  business.  But  I  had  not  firmness  enough 
to  resist  the  unanimous  desire  of  my  country  folks,  and  I  find  myself 
harnessed  again  in  their  service  for  another  year.  They  engrossed 
the  prime  of  my  life.  They  have  eaten  my  flesh  and  now  seem 
resolved  to  pick  my  bones. 

The  year  proved  to  be  three  years,  and  at  the  end  of  that 
time,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of 
the  constitutional  convention,  in  which  he  rendered  services 
as  valuable  as  any  given  during  his  long  life.  Many  of 
the  more  important  features  of  the  Constitution  were  pro 
posed  and  urged  by  him. 

On  his  return  from  France  in  1785  he  was  in  the  very 
height  of  his  fame.  Every  vessel  brought  him  letters  from 


192  SOME  SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

the  most  famous  men  of  Europe.  Every  prominent  person 
who  traveled  in  America  went  to  see  him.  Villages,  towns, 
and  counties  were  named  in  his  honor.  He  was  always 
mentioned  with  respect  and  regard.  It  was  "  the  venerable 
Dr.  Franklin,"  "the  revered  patriot,  Dr.  Franklin,"  "our 
illustrious  countryman  and  friend  of  man,"  "the  father  of 
American  independence,"  etc. 

In  1787  he  was  chosen  president  of  the  first  abolition 
society  formed  in  this  country.  About  five  months  before 
his  death  he  signed,  as  president  of  the  abolition  society, 
a  memorial  to  Congress  in  which  he  said  :  ''That  mankind 
are  all  formed  by  the  same  Almighty  being,  alike  objects 
of  his  care,  and  equally  designed  for  the  enjoyment  of 
happiness,  the  Christian  religion  teaches  us  to  believe,  and 
the  political  creed  of  the  Americans  fully  coincides  with 
that  position." 

Not  long  before  his  death  Franklin  wrote  to  President 
Washington,  saying  : 

My  malady  renders  my  sitting  up  to  write  rather  painful  to  me, 
but  I  cannot  let  my  son-in-law,  Mr.  Bache,  part  for  New  York  without 
congratulating  you,  by  him,  on  the  recovery  of  your  health,  so  precious 
to  us  all,  and  on  the  growing  strength  of  our  new  government  under 
your  administration.  For  my  own  personal  ease  I  should  have  died 
two  years  ago  ;  but  though  those  years  have  been  spent  in  excruciating 
pain,  I  am  pleased  to  have  lived  them,  since  they  have  brought  me  to 
see  our  present  situation.  I  am  now  finishing  my  eighty-fourth  year, 
and  probably  with  it  my  career  in  this  life ;  but  whatever  state  of 
existence  I  am  placed  in  hereafter,  if  I  retain  any  memory  of  what 
passed  here,  I  shall  with  it  retain  the  esteem,  respect,  and  affection 
with  which  I  have  long  been,  my  dear  friend, 

Yours  most  sincerely, 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN. 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN  193 

During  Mr.  Franklin's  last  illness  Washington  wrote 
him  as  follows  :  "  If  to  be  venerated  for  benevolence,  if  to 
be  admired  for  talents,  if  to  be  esteemed  for  patriotism,  if 
to  be  beloved  for  philanthropy  can  gratify  the  human  mind, 
you  must  have  the  pleasing  consolation  to  know  that  you 
have  not  lived  in  vain." 

Franklin  died  on  the  i/th  of  April,  1790.  Twenty 
thousand  persons  attended  his  funeral  services.  The  bells 
of  the  city  were  muffled  and  tolled  ;  flags  on  the  shipping 
were  at  half-mast ;  cannon  were  discharged  at  the  close 
of  the  funeral  ceremonies.  Congress  and  the  National 
Assembly  of  France  passed  suitable  resolutions.  Scientific 
and  political  societies  did  honor  to  his  memory.  Members 
of  Congress  wore  a  black  badge  for  thirty  days.  The 
National  Assembly  of  France  put  on  mourning.  This  body 
and  the  Community  of  Paris  sent  letters  of  condolence  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  the  first  time  that  a  pub 
lic  body  of  one  country  had  paid  homage  to  a  private  citizen 
of  another.  The  city  of  Passy,  where  he  lived  when  in 
France,  gave  his  name  to  a  street. 

A  list  of  the  public  positions  held  by  Franklin  will  impress 
upon  one,  more  forcibly  perhaps  than  all  that  has  been  said, 
how  large  a  part  he  had  in  making  our  country  what  it  was 
at  the  time  of  his  death. 

Justice  of  the  Peace. 

Postmaster  of  Philadelphia. 

Colonel  of  militia. 

Clerk  of  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly. 

Member  of  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly. 

Member  of  the  Common  Council  of  Philadelphia. 

Member  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  of  Philadelphia. 

President  of  Pennsylvania. 


194  SOME   SUCCESSFUL  AMERICANS 

Member  of  a  Committee  to  Canada. 
Member  of  the  Continental  Congress. 
Minister  to  France  during  the  Revolution. 
Member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention. 
Commissioner  to  negotiate  a  peace  with  England. 
Member  of  the  Secret  Committee  of  Congress. 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  for  Pennsylvania. 
Representative  of  Pennsylvania  at  the  Colonial  Congress  at  Albany. 
Member  of  the  Supreme  Executive  Committee  of  Pennsylvania. 
Member  of  the  Committee  of  Three  to  confer  with  Lord  Howe. 
Member  of  the  Committee  of  Secret  Correspondence  of  Congress. 
One  of  a  committee  of  five  to  draft  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Agent  to  England  for  Pennsylvania,  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey, 
and  Georgia. 

This  constituted  a  part  of  the  public  work  of  a.  man  who 
started  out  in  life  with  no  education  beyond  that  obtained 
in  an  ordinary  elementary  school,  one  who  had  no  influen 
tial  friends,  and  who  cared  for  himself  from  the  time  he 
was  twelve  years  old.  It  is  good  to  live  in  a  country  where 
such  things  are  possible. 


LD  21-iooM.7j.S8 


VB  37(66 


227439 


